The Azure Blade
by Zoram Selrof
Summary: Sequel to "Lords of the Cave". Shortly after the drama involving the "Lords of the Cave", when things seem normal, a net of lies and deceit begins to spread; arrogance fuels it and it tries to drag everyone else into it. Be it the Net Police Cyber CID, Golden Star or Shunoros... These actors believe themselves to be supreme, and that will be their downfall. Rated M for lemon.
1. Chapter 1: Of puns and uncles

**The Azure Blade**

**By Zoram Selrof**

**Chapter 1: Of puns and uncles**

10:19 AM (Japan Time), Tuesday April 4th, 2013...

"... And thus the villain was actually an omelet!"

"Huh? Excuse me, sir? An omelet, sir?"

"Why yes, my young lad."

"Eh… But, sir… An omelet is an inanimate object, sir… How can it be the villain of anything, sir?"

"Ah. You joined the force recently, am I right?"

"Well, yes, sir, a couple of months ago, but…"

"Then you didn't know this one. My bad."

"Ah… No, I didn't, sir… But…"

"No need to panic. I'm not scolding you, my young lad."

"Eh… Yes, sir…"

"Superintendent Oda… Making the officers feel nervous won't help catch the wannabes out there easily, you know? Sir?"

"Oh my. Ijuuin-kun. You're just in time."

"In time… for what?"

Ijuuin Enzan stepped into a corridor of the Net Police HQ and to his exasperation he found Superintendent Oda of the Net Police Cyber CID joking with a new police officer next to the stairs; the officer was nervously shaking and sweating while Oda looked in a terribly good mood, further exasperating Enzan.

"For the omelet."

"Not that joke again. He means that the villain is someone named Rodrigo Tortilla… "Tortilla" means "omelet" in Spanish! It's not his joke either, you "borrowed" it from _Tintin and the Broken Ear_! So please stop making officers feel nervous! Sir!"" Enzan groaned.

"Ah! I-is that so?" The officer gulped.

"Well, the more you know…" Oda blinked an eye.

"You needn't know that to do your job." Enzan grumbled.

"Indeed, Enzan-sama." Blues dully added as he projected as a hologram hovering over Enzan's right shoulder.

"By the way, Blues-kun." Oda suddenly called out.

"Yes, sir?"

"Did you find Mr. Smith?"

"No, sir. You didn't issue such an order, sir."

"Oh, really. I was sure I did."

"Excuse, sir, but the Inspector is calling so…" The officer called out.

"Oh yes. Go and bring him blessings from Uncle Merton."

"HUH?"

The officer ran out, dumbfounded, while Enzan groaned again and slapped his face out of exasperation.

"It's a miracle I haven't gone mad yet." He muttered.

"Truly, sir." Blues sighed too.

"Now, now. No need to be so defeatist."

"I'd rather go round up some wannabes. Let's go, Blues."

"Roger, sir."

"Send them greetings from Mr. Smiles."

"Yeah. Like I would." Enzan grumbled.

He walked off and crossed through some rooms before reaching a workspace area; he walked over to the workspace where Obihiro Shun and Meijin were working at, engrossed in discussing something as they looked at some data that, at a first glance, seemed to be a complete random mixup of alphabet and numbers.

_Some encrypted data, huh? Is it a test of a new encryption system?_

"Hello." He called out.

"Hi, Ijuuin-kun." Obihiro replied.

"Oh. Ijuuin-kun. Hello there." Meijin greeted back.

"Testing a new encryption system?" Enzan asked.

"Yeah. In the past, we've had hackings and data leaks so we're constantly improving the encryptions. As well as adding a failsafe in case someone attempted a brute force decryption method." Obihiro explained.

"You mean a self-destruct trigger?"

"Correct. And it also has another failsafe: secretly notify us of where the device that's attempting to access the data is at." Meijin added.

"That would be useful to lure out sneaky types out of their hideouts instead of spending days trying to track them down."

"Yes. That's the goal of this new system. We were also thinking of purposely placing a copy of some data encrypted with this in an auxiliary server, then spread a rumor about it being about a Battle Chip that makes you invincible. You bet that a lot of wannabes would fight each other to steal that data." Obihiro added with a wink.

"Make rubbish fight rubbish, so that we only have to catch the survivors. It'll save us from all those boring battles." Blues got amused.

"Yeah. The only challenges are those two guys… Judge Man and Element Man." Enzan pocketed his hands in the trousers' pockets.

"Have they even tried to improve in any way ever since the "lecture" they got a while ago?" Obihiro asked.

"Judge Man is the only one who always has something new whenever we need to give him a lesson for starting a ruckus and disturbing public order. Element Man, on the other hand, is obsessed with meteors and is constantly dropping them and over-relying on his "Fire Mode" to power them up. But we just attack with water Battle Chips and he's soon reduced." Enzan exposed.

"Must've been playing too much _Final Fantasy_." Obihiro joked.

"Sure. Must've gotten into his small CPU that meteors are invincible."

"Talk about wasted abilities indeed. Oh well. If that makes it easier to subdue him whenever he starts a ruckus then it benefits us so… But nevertheless I think we should ready counter measures for his other modes as well." Meijin smiled but suddenly turned serious.

"Good point. Maybe it's actually part of a plot by the guy to make us believe that's all he can do but when we less expect it he'll have a new combo ready to catch us unaware." Enzan brought up his right hand and rubbed his chin with it.

"Maybe we could ready a simulation based on previous battle data and use it to train. Don't ya think so, Meijin?" Punk suggested as he created a small pop-up window on the SE corner of Meijin's laptop screen.

"Good idea, Punk. I'll get working on it once we finish the battery of tests of the new encryption system." Meijin nodded in agreement.

"Oh yeah. Speaking of ruckus… We intercepted some transmissions about a gang from Fukuoka who look like they wanna start a ruckus today during the soccer match." Obihiro reported.

"Fukuoka, huh? Roger. Then I guess you and Punk can go teach them a lesson. Did you tell the Superintendent about it?"

"I did. He just sent me a reply to my WhatsApp, authorizing us to go and round them up. The Fukuoka Prefectural Police will then take care of the rest." Obihiro confirmed.

"Roger that. Maybe we should do some heating up before that. Do you expect them to have some nasty surprise?"

"Yeah. From the data we've intercepted, it's possible that they will be spamming the "Blinder" Battle Chip. You should shut down visual input and rely on sound and radar to tell their locations. They'll get cocky once they trigger that so if you most as swift as wind you'll have them beaten up in the blink on an eye." Obihiro warned.

"Hmpf. Typical of weakling cowards. Instead of fighting one by one, they just rely on numbers." Blues scoffed.

"Yeah, man. They need a lesson on guts… Provided by Guts Man. Hah, hah, hah, hah, hah!" Punk laughed at his own pun.

"How brilliant of you." Meijin drily muttered.

"Totally." The others sighed as well.

"Uncle Guts dropped by town?" Oda suddenly appeared behind Enzan and looking interested.

"No, sir." They all drily replied.

"My. What dryness. Uncle Dry dropped by?"

"No, sir!" They groaned.

"So go tell those Fukuoka chaps that Uncle Slash 'n Dice came to beat their punk hides." Oda laughed.

"Yeah. Sure." Punk grumbled.

"Oh! But! Beware! The password is: Kih-Oskh and Gaipajama!"

"More _Tintin_ references? Now it's _The Cigars of the Pharaoh_?" Obihiro rolled his eyes, sighing.

"Yeah. I don't expect them to be that _cultured_." Enzan ironized.

"You never know, my folk blessed by Uncle Merton! Good hunting, and remember to ring up Mr. Drum Can if you need help." He laughed as he walked off the workspace.

"Who the heck?" Enzan grumbled.

"Sheesh. The protagonist of _Metal Max 3_… He's amnesiac and in a certain scene he improvises that name. Yes, you can name him as you wish but one of his "default" names is that… He's a bounty hunter. Hence the _original_ joke." Obihiro exasperatedly explained.

"When did he turn into a videogames _otaku_?"

"Dunno! I actually think he's secretly found my Twitter account where I tweet about the games I play."

"Sheesh. I know motivation is important, but he overdoes it. I'll never tire of repeating that!" Enzan grumbled.

"Let's start heating up. We've got plenty of time until the soccer match anyway." Meijin suggested.

"Good idea. I need a change of airs."

"We all do!"

17:23 PM (Japan Time)

"… And so I lifted that drum can and tossed it at the twerp that…!"

"Yeah, yeah. In your dream world, of course."

"Netto! Take that back!"

"And I don't want to, what'll you do, Dekao? Start a brawl?"

"Sheesh."

"Will you ever stop making up fake tales?"

"It's not fake tales! It's my tale of heroism!"

"Surprised you bothered to remember such a complicated word."

"Wha! What do you mean, Meiru-chan?"

"That you could've bothered to memorize the kanji for today's kanji exam. Do you remember how to write the "ki" as in "kikai" to begin with?"

"Huh! Huh… Well… Like this… And like that… See!"

"That rather looks like the kanji "otoko" to me."

"Yikes!"

"Betrayed by your subconscious, Dekao-sama?"

"Whaa? What's that supposed to mean, Yaito-chan?"

"Dunno. Ask Guts Man."

"Guts. Yaito means that you're only thinking of "man = cool". Guts."

"When did you learn to make such comments, Guts Man? I feel like I'm dreaming and everything around me has turned surreal!"

The Akihara High students (Hikari Netto, Saito, Ooyama Dekao, Hikawa Tooru, Sakurai Meiru and Ayanokouji Yaito) were talking as they crossed the main yard of the school grounds and headed for the exit: Dekao was, as always, trying to play cool while most of the others were not impressed in the least; Yaito taunted him and Guts Man made a smart comment, for once, baffling Dekao.

"This is reality. Did you forget that I sent Guts Man a copy of the official Net Navi "Navi Custom" program and he used it to improve his AI?"

"Wha? When did you, Yaito?" He asked.

"Last month. You hadn't noticed?" Yaito smirked.

"Why didn't you tell me, Guts Man?"

"Guts. I told you plenty of times, Dekao, but you never listened. Guts."

"Thought so." Glyde sighed in defeat.

"Cheer up, Strawberry Glider!" Yaito laughed.

"Yaito-sama…!" He groaned.

"Will you ever stop bullying poor Glyde, Yaito-chan?" Meiru sighed.

"Yes. It gets tiring." Roll added.

"That's bullying?" Yaito gasped.

"Yeah. I'm sure most would agree." Hikawa grumbled.

"I DO!"

"Yikes! Daddy! When did you…?"

Mr. Ayanokouji suddenly loomed over Yaito and he didn't look too pleased; she broke into cold sweat while the others rolled their eyes (save Dekao, who also broke in cold sweat).

"When did I…? Sheesh. I've been home since last week. I thought that, for a change of airs, I could come pick you up from school… And I find that, as always, you're bullying Glyde." He grumbled.

"It's a joke!" She nervously argued back.

"It's not when you make him feel depressed."

"Navis can get depressed?"

"I don't know the exact answer but I'd say they feel something similar. Maybe it's exasperation. Anyway. The fact remains that you're still acting like a small child. I know you're a bit younger than your classmates but that doesn't excuse your behavior. By the way, Ooyama-kun. I don't see why you're so nervous. I'm only complaining about my daughter. Did you expect me to scold you too or what?" He lifted his sight to look at Dekao.

"Well… I thought so, sir… Because I didn't appreciate her gift, sir…"

"Hm. Reasonable. Don't worry about it. It's not like it was an expensive gift anyway. I'm not sure if she intended it to be a gift or more like a way to have fun of you. I suspect the latter." He shrugged.

"I-I see, sir." Dekao nervously gulped.

"Good afternoon."

"Hi, Raito. How was your day?"

"The usual."

"That's good to hear."

Someone named Raito walked over to Netto and Saito (most of them had moved to the left of the school entrance).

Raito appealed to be on his early teens: maybe he was close to a meter and sixty tall.

He had brownish smooth hair and brown eye irises: he also had reading glasses on.

He simply wore middle school uniform and white sneakers while carrying a black backpack.

"Is something the matter?" He politely asked.

"The usual. Yaito bullying Glyde and trolling Dekao and now her father's come to scold her." Netto shrugged.

"She's always asking for trouble." Saito shrugged too.

"I see. It's like Leon-senpai had told me. To watch out for her "teasing" and her poor sense of humor." He wasn't too surprised.

"What do we do, Tooru-kun? Desu." Ice Man asked.

"Nothing. It's her problem. Let's get home." Hikawa shrugged.

"I don't want to prolong this scene in public so… Get in the car. Let's get home and we'll talk about it." Mr. Ayanokouji ordered.

Yaito gulped and hung her head down, ashamed, as she followed him to the car: Dekao let out a sigh of relief

"I feel like I was gonna faint!" He muttered.

"Oh come on. Don't exaggerate." Meiru sighed.

"Ah! By the way! I've got a good idea!"

"Impress me." She directed a dry, skeptical glare at him.

"… Huh… Well… It's nothing." He gulped.

"Ah. Fine. If you have no further business with me… How about you get home and do the homework? Before you mother has to scold you." She drily suggested.

"Y-yes, ma'am…" He nervously nodded in understanding.

Dekao ran off as if he expected trouble and Meiru merely shrugged, unimpressed, as she walked over to the group.

"Sorry for the holdup. Let's go."

"Sure."

"By the way, Raito… I guess that Yanada troublemaker has been behaving at school, yeah?" Netto asked Raito.

"Yes. The teachers do keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn't start trouble. Fortunately, he's not in the same classroom as _senpai_ so it makes it easier for him to ignore that person. If he were the only troublemaker it wouldn't be an issue yet…"

"Yet? Did he bring more troublemakers along?" Saito worriedly asked.

"More or less… The other day a lady from Class 4-A came to talk to me and asked me if I… wanted to be her "errands boy". The homeroom teacher overheard that and quickly scolded her while reminding her that her latest grades were declining." He explained.

"Errands boy? Sigh. She was trying to abuse of her "authority" as an elder student to buy her stuff that's forbidden in the school… She'd probably try to say you were acting on your own and elude responsibility at all… I've heard such stories." Meiru rolled her eyes.

"Thought so. But after the scolding by the homeroom teacher she probably won't dare to bother the others for a while."

"Phew. Fortunately, Akihara Middle is very strict with trolls and bullies like those." Saito sighed in relief.

"Yeah. Fortunately enough!" Hikawa sighed in relief, too.

"Really. These girls… Just because you've made it to 4th year that doesn't give you moral justification to bully others or to try to "bewitch" them into fulfilling your petty caprices!" Meiru fumed.

"Yeah. If you have so much free time, use it to improve your grades… Or so I'd say of any student who behaves like that." Netto muttered.

"Truly." Raito nodded in agreement.

"At least Yaito did contribute to finally updating Guts Man's AI. Sheesh. I feel like the programmer was the smug type who thought that because Guts Man looked big and gorilla-like he needn't a proper AI. If only Dekao-kun had bothered to download the official "Navi Custom" years ago and improve his AI…" Hikawa sighed.

"Yeah. I can totally picture it. Hope they were sacked for being lazy and delivering a defective product." Saito sighed.

"Truly! Oh well. Let's get rid of this atmosphere and focus on the task at hand, shall we?" Meiru suggested.

"Sure. Hey, Raito. Drop by home for a while, there's gonna be brownies with the tea." Netto invited.

"Brownies? Curious. I felt like having one." Raito looked amused.

"It's the blessing of the brownie." Saito laughed at his joke.

"Sure, why not?" Hikawa was amused as well.

"Have fun. I'll have some rice cookies myself. Bye."

"See you tomorrow!"

"OK! Time for brownies!"

18:51 PM (Japan Time)

"… You lowlifes. That's as far as you come."

"Huh? Who are ya? Some punk from Tokyo?"

"Hmpf! It's 10 VS 2! Absolute victory!"

"We've got an ace-in-the-hole!"

"We're INVINCIBLE!"

"I wonder 'bout that, fellas."

"What was that?"

"Ya wanna brawl? Let's go! URA~H!"

"URA~H!"

Blues and Punk had stepped into a back alley near the Fukuoka Internet City Main Stadium where 10 red-colored Heel Navis had gathered at: they looked mean and cocky as they got into a pose for battle: Blues simply had his Long Sword drawn and ready while Punk had readied his shield and his extendible arm.

"Blinder!""

A bright blinding flash ensued and the opponents rushed in but Blues quickly moved at a swift speed between them doing precise cuts on the torso so that the pain would make them momentarily flinch: Punk rammed two with the shield and then shot his extendible arm to tie up 3 of them at once, lift them and drop them atop the remaining 5 before they could recover; they all collapsed as an iron cage dropped from above and embedded in the ground using some spikes set beneath the lower edge of the base; several Police Navis rushed into the scene.

"Thank you for your help, gentlemen." The officer in charge thanked Blues and Punk.

"Don't mind it. It's duty." Blues shrugged.

"Sure. Was fun." Punk chuckled.

"What the heck…? What happened…?" One of the thugs groaned.

"This wasn't what that that guy told us!"

"Yeah! He just said "a couple weak punks"!"

"The bastard scammed us!"

"Shit! I'm so gonna tear that bastard apart!"

"Same! Lemme outta this thing! I gotta rip that jerk to pieces!"

"Oh? So the data we intercepted was leaked to lure us here?" Blues realized.

"Insofar the sentries and my radar doesn't pick anything out of place in 50 meters radius…" Punk looked around.

"Wait! The stadium! Maybe these punks are a distraction while someone wants to attack the stadium!" Enzan warned.

"Devil! Which of them? The real world one? The virtual one? Or maybe both?" Meijin cursed.

"Speaking of which… There was an anonymous tip-off today… Saying that some "delusional piece of junk" was plotting something taking profit of today's match… We were investigating it and we've spent the morning checking both stadiums but we didn't find anything odd." The commanding officer told them.

"Delusional piece of junk? That's not something you hear often." Blues rubbed his chin with the left hand.

"Maybe the stadium itself is a red herring and they plan on striking somewhere else… Or maybe there's no strike at all and it's but someone's idea of a nasty prank." Meijin suggested.

"So? Who was that jerk who scammed you?" Blues questioned the thugs.

"Some bastard named "General Takeda" who looked like a run-of-a-mill Navi and spoke in Hokkaido dialect!" The thug who looked like the leader grumbled.

"General Takeda and speaking Hokkaido dialect… Shouldn't be too hard to find them, then." Punk muttered.

"Someone trying to look up to Takeda Shingen, I guess."

"If they bothered to leave a name and such a strong impression then I guess it's a "persona" made up to approach these thugs and have them rely this info to us… And then engage in a pointless manhunt to find this subject…" Enzan deduced.

"Good point."

"Did ya think it'd be so easy?" An unknown voice speaking in Hokkaido dialect suddenly rang out.

"What!"

They turned to see that a Police Navi was holding a Giga Count Bomb Program Advance on his hands which was already counting down: he laughed as he flung it at them: Blues dashed forward leaving "afterimages" on his wake and quickly swung his sword upwards to diagonally cut the bomb in half: it exploded nevertheless and the shockwave pushed several of them away and inflicted damage as shrapnel flew off and embedded in their bodies: the fake Police Navi was using a Dream Aura so he wasn't damaged and laughed as he ran off.

"Have at ya, punks! The great I am invincible! That delusional piece of junk will soon meet its inglorious end! In the SCRAPYARD! Nyah, hah, hah, hah! I'm a GENIUS!"

"Chase! Chase!" The officer ordered.

Blues hissed under his breath while trying to bear with the pain and joined the chase as the fake officer exited in the main avenue and headed for a bridge crossing over a river; he dived into it and Blues tried to do the same but was suddenly met with an invisible barrier which made him bounce and fall back on the shore, groaning.

"Blues! Are you alright?" Enzan called out.

"Y-yes, sir…! All of my body feels like countless needles had stabbed!"

"Devil! The culprit was posing as one of us!" The officer groaned.

"They're no commoner! They bothered to alter the PA and to ready an escape route plus a barrier…" Meijin fumed.

"No, the barrier was actually part of safety measures… And to avoid graffiti being painted beneath the bridge." The officer explained.

"I see. The reason why he had to infiltrate the force was to find the code to activate and deactivate the barrier, then!" Enzan realized.

"Yes. That's probably why."

"Where does the river end up at?" Blues asked.

"At a lake, about 700 meters to the west…"

"Is it very big?"

"Yes. About… One square kilometer in area and over 500 meters in depth… The culprit probably will get out of the river before that… And to begin with, it's probably a means to hide out when he did "Plug-Out" so that we end up believing he's hiding in the city…" The officer sighed as he explained.

"Good points. Maybe that's what he actually wants us to think and he actually uses the lake as a hideout. If it's that deep then he could install a capsule or so where to hide and wait for us to give up on chasing him. I suggest we check that lake extensively." Blues argued back.

"That's also a very valid point."

"But what do they want to begin with? Who's that "delusional piece of junk"…? Wait. Doesn't that ring a bell somewhere?" Meijin frowned.

"Now that you mention it… It does. Would that mean that…?" Enzan gasped as he realized.

"We have not one but TWO headaches running loose…" Blues grumbled.

"Lovely! I feel like April's Fools is laughing at us!" Punk grumbled.

"Huh? Excuse me?" The officer was perplexed.

"Well… We have a hunch of who the "delusional piece of junk" that the culprit mentioned is… But we lack evidence to prove it." Blues explained to him with a sigh.

"I see. It's a hypothesis."

"Correct. I wouldn't want to cause confusion by blurting out a hypothesis as if it was a proven fact… It could be a red herring by the culprit to begin with!"

"Devil. Now that you mention it… We have no proof that the "delusional piece of junk" the guy talked about exists to begin with." Enzan grumbled as he realized.

"Nevertheless, we should send a warning to be in the lookout for this culprit… Problem is how to phrase it without triggering a wave of panic and paranoia, too…" The officer sighed.

"Good point too. We'll have to boil our brains." Meijin grumbled.

"A search unit has reached the lake and will begin investigating ASAP."

"Alright. Let's join them. I wouldn't be surprised if the capsule or whatever the culprit uses to hide is buried beneath the lakebed, even. Maybe in the walls of the lake… Or maybe by the shores, even!" Blues suggested.

"It'll be like searching for a needle in a haystack… This is gonna be one long evening and night, I can see it coming." Meijin dreaded.

"Can't be helped. We must leave no stone unturned. Anything to allow us to find that runaway and seize them before they commit some major terrorism…" Enzan sighed.

"Devil. No time for complaining, then. Let's hurry and check the lake."

"I'll also send men to check the river's course and security footage… Assuming it hasn't been deleted or altered, that is…"

"Good idea. Maybe they're hiding in the banks or by some building near the river as well… This is gonna be a long, arduous search indeed…"

"Devil. Who the hell are they and what do they want?"


	2. Chapter 2: Loose duo

**Chapter 2: Loose duo**

05:45 AM (Japan Time), Thursday April 6th…

"… MALASHALASHASHASHAH!"

"Charming. Esperanto?"

"GAGAGA! CHECHECHE!"

"Lady Gaga and Che Guevara?"

"KAKAKAKAKARARARARA!"

"Kara? Oh yeah. The blue shell from _Mario Kart_? Beware! It's coming from behind. Meteor Man."

"GIGIGIGI!"

"Or maybe you prefer Element Man Who Doesn't Know How To Use More Than One Element?"

"GRRRUUUHHHH!"

"Now you finally got in the mood? Good. About time. I, End Angel, will teach you a lesson on not starting a fuss at 5AM."

"GOGOGOGOO!"

Element Man had been facing someone named End Angel in a worn down industrial area somewhere in the Internet while, as always, uttering undecipherable wording; his opponent had been making jokes out of it and finally taunted Element Man, who got annoyed

"Fear the blade of _Shunoros_…"

This Navi, End Angel, had a white helmet shaped like a swan as seen from above with the beak's upper edge running past the forehead and providing some "shade" to the face: the side edges had black painting over them and formed a trapeze-like drawing.

The sides of the helmet per se consisted on a navy blue piece of armor over a round white circle.

A blue piece of armor shaped as if it was an inclined seat emerged from there travelled down until the base of the neck: bluish transparent shades covered the eyes: his eyes' irises were blue.

His forehead had the _kanji_ for _shuuen_ or "end" written on it using blood red coloring too.

The chest armor had the initials "EA" written in blood red color and set on the protruding upper edge of the armor which was white in color: a small depression at the middle formed the shape of the "V" letter: a blue-colored thin stripe ran across the armor to then form a vertical column aiming downwards: the small space at the SW and SE edges of the armor below the blue stripe was colored white.

Two smooth wings came out from behind the body's shoulder armors: they were built of three pieces split by thin black lines.

The first piece had a one-third-portion colored metallic gray but the rest of it had a navy blue coloring to it as it extended and ended in a diagonal angle aiming SW: the second piece was colored white instead and shared the exact length.

The third piece was shorter and about half the length of the others.

The shoulder armors were made of spheroids with a small triangle aiming downwards and protecting part of the arm from the sides.

Each had a brown descending ramp – like line drawn across its length: the lower edges were curved and metallic coupled together with a small square piece on the SW and SE corners of the armor as well.

The forearms' armor (starting at around the elbow and past the exposed segment of arm covered by black "skin") was rather simple in design having just a small ramp aiming past the armor and emerging from close to the upper edge: they were colored brown too while the hands also were covered in black "skin".

His boots were black; two bands split them in three brown parts; they had a trapeze-shaped piece of armor set vertically over the knees and one small triangle-like piece close to the star of the toes.

The toes had two small openings: it looked like it could vent off heat building up inside of the boots: the soils were plain metallic gray.

His face looked like he was a teen guy and his height was over a meter seventy, maybe closer to a meter and eighty.

He was currently hovering and beating his wings as he held his blade horizontally as he gripped the hilt with the right hand.

"Let's go!"

Element Man quickly shifted to his "fire mode" and dropped a big meteor towards End Angel but he beat his wings and quickly flew for Element Man while swinging his sword: it inflicted a shallow cut on the chest armor making Element Man recoil and End Angel quickly flipped to push his feet against him, pushing Element Man further and allow End Angel to bounce off him and jump upwards; the meteor hit the ground about 5 meters behind End Angel and left a crater but that was all it did; he shrugged and lifted the blade as a green transparent circle with runes draw on its outer edge formed over the round emblem of the sword's hilt: a thunderbolt fell down just as Element Man had shifted to "water mode" and was shooting a powerful jet of water at him; the thunderbolt hit him fully and End Angel simply flew higher than the jet and dived for Element Man; he suddenly turned into smoke as End Angel made contact and a log appeared there; End Angel smirked and quickly turned around to block Element Man's attempt to attack him from behind with an Elec Sword.

"Nice try. However, I always keep the radar active. I could tell that you'd warped behind me as I was diving for your fake. So close yet so far, Mr. Smith. You'll have to do better." He smirked.

"End Angel. Don't get cocky." A man's voice scolded over his radio.

"Huh! Prince, sir. I apologize, sir."

"Why didn't you ask me for permission for this sortie?"

"Huh? Odd. I did leave a memo in the throne room, sir." He frowned.

"Did you? I don't see any memo. And how did you know where to go to?"

"The man published a message in Twitter that indirectly challenged us. By writing, "Come fight me" and adding an image of the "Oreichalcos Shunoros"… Imposed over the background of this zone. So I looked up the location and came, sir." He explained.

In the meanwhile he flew away from Element Man and the foe hit the ground face first because he'd dropped from above and had been placing all force into trying to break End Angel's deadlock; he groaned and stood up grumbling as he shifted to "wood mode" and formed some spears of wood that he sent flying towards End Angel: he swung the sword horizontally a wall of fire formed to burn them down.

"Strange. I've looked all over the room and I don't see any memos. Unless someone stole it… And I suspect who…" The "Prince" grumbled.

"Same, sir. Sheesh. They don't learn, do they?" He sighed.

"MUGARAKASHAMARANA!" Element Man yelled something.

"What? "Don't ignore me"? Well, if you insist so much…"

Element Man reverted to his default form and formed a couple of small tornadoes which he shot at End Angel but he simply swung the sword to generate "Sonic Booms" and cut the tornadoes; Element Man got annoyed and lifted his arms as he roared something and shifted to "electric mode"; a mass of yellow lightning began to form in the air above him and a thunder roared as bolts of lightning broke out from it spreading madly in all directions: End Angel simply lifted his sword to have them coil around him and flung them back at Element Man as he resumed his "water mode": he got zapped again and turned into smoke again as he dropped from above riding atop a "Quake" Virus; End Angel gasped and quickly used Area Steal to warp a couple meters away; Element Man's Virus hit the ground and left a crater there as he looked around to find End Angel; he reappeared to his right with the blade sheathed; he quickly unsheathed it thus making a deep cut on Element Man's torso again; he recoiled and fell face up in the ground, clutching the wound; he howled something and warped away from the area while End Angel sheathed the blade again and landed in the floor.

"I warned you."

"I know, sir. I apologize, sir."

"Fine. You're one of the most competent members in Shunoros so this time I'll let it slip but… Next time wake me up if needed and ask me directly for permission… As for the memo, I found it atop your room's drawer set. I think you forgot to bring it to the throne room…" The "Prince" explained.

"Ah! Now I remember! True!" He slapped his face.

"It was also my mistake to jump the gun and assume that Grey was behind its disappearance… Because Grey and Corvus and Wolf left for the mainland on Monday. Only Flame, Wave, Cyclone, Vine, you and I are actively in the base."

"True, sir. I also completely forgot."

"I'm surprised you were awake this early in the morning."

"I felt a bit unrestful, sir, and was trying to see if I could sleep again when I saw that message… Thought a battle would do well to shake off some tension… I apologize for the inconveniences, sir."

"Understood. If you want to talk to me about something, come back and let's talk about it."

"Thank you, sir. I will be coming back at once, sir… Hmmm?"

He quickly gripped his sword's hilt as he looked at his surroundings in a mistrusting way; nothing happened for over a whole minute and he sighed as he let go of the hilt.

"My paranoia, I guess. Let's get back to the base." He muttered.

Some ripples formed behind and distorted the air as if it was a heat haze; a black circle formed in the middle of the air and he flew backwards into it to disappear; the phenomenon also vanished without a trace.

_Hmpf. I knew it, that clown isn't reliable. Fine. I'll draw out another of them and teach them that judgment time has come!_

07:55 AM (Japan Time)

"… Alright. Who the heck is it now?"

"Me! Runt!"

"Well, if isn't Mr. Railgun Maniac."

"Sheesh!"

"And Mr. Thief."

"Sheesh!"

"Don't get cocky just because you've got elemental advantage."

"We'll see about that, runt! Judgment Day is close!"

"Oh, I'm so _afraid_. Self-called Judge Man."

"GRODHGDHAO!"

"I'm Blue Wave, in case you forgot. By orders of Prince Kuroban of Shunoros, I've come to teach you a lesson."

"Come! Runt!"

Judge Man was battling a Navi from the "Shunoros" organization, Blue Wave, in the inner yard of a block of houses in the Cyber World.

Blue Wave's main color, curiously enough, wasn't blue, but a shade of silver-like white or, rather, sky-blue color.

His helmet only protected the front and sides of the head while allowing his blue-tinted hair to freely flow out.

As seen from the front, the forehead of the helmet had a device mounted upon it colored metallic gray: it was built using three different parts and the central one spanning across his forehead was shaped like a climbing hill: there then was a triangle-like extensions popping upwards with an orange-like spot on the center of it close to the top: a small piece in the form of an inverted triangle extended downwards and that was where his blue transparent shades were affixed at: his eyes' irises were blue.

The sides of the helmet were painted in that sky-blue color and had no decoration on them save for the "mizu" or "water" _kanji_ painted over the ears using silver-like ink.

The part of the helmet behind the front triangle had a fin spanning across it and until the back: the fin was divided in three parts as seen from the sides: a navy blue-colored climbing ramp line marked the middle section and the segment below it was colored in a dull gray color while the upper one used the sky blue color: a circling metallic band curved along the rear of the helmet.

This offered protection for the lower part of the head and the neck as well.

A metallic collar-like piece of armor was located around the base of the neck followed by the chest armor, which had a metallic upper band followed by an inverted triangle-like piece of armor: the center of it had the initials "BW" set there.

The shoulder armor could be described as being the NW and NE quarters of a spheroid.

Each had a navy blue descending ramp – like line drawn across its length: the lower edges were curved and metallic coupled together with a small square piece on the SW and SE corners of the armor as well.

The forearms' armor (starting at around the elbow and past the exposed segment of arm covered by blue "skin") was rather simple in design having just a small ramp aiming past the armor and emerging from close to the upper edge: they were colored sky-blue too while the hands also were covered in blue "skin".

His boots were rather plain green models with two bands splitting the boots in three segments colored deep green.

They just had a trapeze-shaped piece of armor set vertically over the knees and one small triangle-like piece close to the star of the toes which had two small openings: it looked like it could vent off heat building up inside of the boots: the soils were plain metallic gray.

"Judgment Press!"

"Slow."

Judge Man raised his arms and summoned a big, thick book the cover of which read "Japanese Civil Code" and which opened in half to then fall face-down towards Blue Wave, who'd already begun to run towards Judge Man while water began to fill the area's ground: he formed two modified Vulcan Battle Chips having water deposits instead of ammo chambers and dragged them across the water as it quickly rose to fill them: Judge Man scoffed and crossed his arms.

"My defense is superb!" He gloated

"We'll see about that. Ocean God's Pressure!"

Blue Wave's guns began to spin and shoot jets of pressurized water towards Judge Man: he turned into a cloud of smoke and was replaced by a statue of Lady Justice: Blue Wave was hardly surprised as he formed a geyser around him which knocked the falling book off-course as Judge Man drew his whip and flung it at him: a Met Guard formed behind the geyser and bounced off the whip: Judge Man quickly let go of it and jumped away just as the jets of water shot past the spot he'd been at a second ago: he quickly formed a portable railgun and began to load it while aiming: Blue Wave cancelled the geyser and simply jumped towards him while surrounded by a mass of water: Judge Man laughed and shot the electrical bolt at Blue Wave yet the electricity was dispersed when entering in contact with the water and didn't conduct, to Judge Man's disbelief: he cancelled the railgun and formed a wall of thick ice using the water as basis material as he hovered upwards: Blue Wave shifted his guns for Golden Fists on both arms and effortlessly broke the ice wall: Judge Man scoffed again and activated a "Blinder" Battle Chip while closing his eyes and forming two Elec Swords: he rushed for Blue Wave but he'd also closed his eyes to avoid being affected by the flash and cancelled the Gold Fists: his arms began to glow as he effortlessly caught the incoming blades and held them at bay with his hands' palms.

"Devil! Shirahadori! Stopping a sword stroke between one's bare hands!"

"Yeah. That's why I told you not to get cocky. Think I've done nothing since our last battle? Of course not. I've been training to compensate for my weaknesses." Blue Wave dully told him.

"Indeed! A warrior must know all kind of arts if he's to survive a battle! I might've been too lenient about it in the past but it was about time I got serious with teaching my men to do that!" Prince Kuroban announced over the radio.

"Sheesh. Lovely, just lovely! Thought I'd succeed where the clown failed and turns out I'll end up just like them!" He grumbled.

"Ah. So! You were the actual author of that tweet. And you lured your old pal Element Man there to see what he actually could do." Blue Wave calmly deduced.

"I see. He used us to analyze what weaknesses exploit by the time they clashed again, huh? Talk about a sneaky… _Book Man_." Kuroban snickered over the radio.

Blue Wave nervously gulped as if not used to his superior's snickers: he quickly shook his head to focus again as both landed on the rooftops on opposite ends of the yard.

"You wouldn't have something to do with that "General Takeda" bastard that caused all that fuss two days ago… Would you?" Kuroban questioned Judge Man; he was back to being dry and uninterested.

"Hmpf! I heard of it, of course! I know they found their capsule buried in the lakebed but it was empty… Well, I couldn't care less! One more ruffian to judge using my new Net Navi sanction legislation!" He crossed his arms and scoffed.

"Obviously." Blue Wave wasn't impressed.

"If I find them, they will know firsthand what the bestowing of judgment is! Their flesh will suffer the consequences!" He laughed.

"You're not an official judge. But a berserker claiming to be so."

"Silence, barbarians! Law has spoken!"

"Hmpf. You're the barbarian who in the end wasn't better than an envious arrogant man who wanted to have all merits for himself… And all of your boss' attention." Kuroban scoffed.

"Guh! Silence, self-proclaimed royal! I shall unmask you yet!"

"Self-proclaimed? Hmpf. You're one to talk. Come. You will know what my blade can cut. Apart from tongues." Kuroban was getting angry.

Blue Wave gulped again as if fearing he'd be scolded and Judge Man gasped as he took some steps backwards.

"Well? What happened to your earlier confidence, huh? Gone with the wind? To Casablanca?" Kuroban snickered.

"Ghkdhgkkshabgj!" He growled something undecipherable.

"I've got a thousand better ways to spend the time than in you fools. Pull out, Blue Wave. Let's keep seeking that ruffian." He ordered.

"Roger, sir! My bad, but this showdown has been postponed. See ya."

Blue Wave vanished in the same way End Angel did: Judge Man gasped and jumped over there but he was a bit too late since, by the time he landed, the phenomenon was gone.

"Why, you…!" He closed his right fist and brandished it.

"Shah, shah, shah! Was wondering who started this fuss… It had to be ya!"

"Who…? Golden Star's Needle Man!"

Needle Man had jumped atop the rooftop and Judge Man growled.

"Yeah, so? Wanna brawl?"

"Hmpf! Got no time for you savages! Hah!"

He suddenly formed a blue cloth with a golden rim and swung it to cover himself: both he and the cloth vanished without a trace.

"Hah! Fancy escape method, huh? Oh well. Let's go rendezvous."

_Maybe I should suggest Legato-dono to keep an eye on this guy…_

12:01 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Burn! So… What's the mission?"

"Video! According to Legato-dono's instructions…"

"Shah, shah, shah! We gotta rendezvous with Beta X and investigate this possible hideout of the fugitive…"

"Hey, guys. Sorry for the wait, some jerks assaulted me when doing a shortcut. The usual "this is our turf, pay to pass"… Kicked their butts and they ran away blaming each other, as usual."

"Heh! They lacked Uncle Moran's wisdom! Burn!"

Burner Man, Video Man and Needle Man had gathered in the banks of the Fukuoka Internet City river next to a set of 3-story buildings built along the east bank and were talking when a Navi dropped from above and joined them.

Beta X used black as his body's main color: he had a white piece of armor set over the chest which contained a ruby jewel and two wing-like extensions spreading across the torso until the shoulders: the golden-colored Alphabet "X" character was set over the upper edge of the ruby.

His eyes' irises were blood red in coloring but they lacked pupils: his facial expression denoted seriousness.

His helmet's main color was black as well yet he had some blue pieces of armor built around the edges of it and across the middle of the helmet: the ruby had been set directly above his nose and was aiming downwards along his helmet's front part.

The helmet included five extensions shaped like wings and colored white plus a golden edge: two formed on the lower edge of the helmet, another two formed at a height over the eyes and the last one sprouted from the middle of his helmet while aiming upwards.

A golden edge surrounded his neck and formed a small collar-like object around it: his shoulders had white armor over them: three thin spear-like extensions formed behind them.

These gave off the impression of a wing as well: the uppermost piece was golden in coloring while the other two pieces were white.

His arms' skin was black until the elbow: white armor encompassed it and extended until the hands and fingers: a golden ring served as additional protection for the wrists.

The rest of his upper body had no decoration whatsoever until the hips, where the leg armor began at: a golden edge in the shape of a triangle marked the start of it.

The remainder of the legs' armor was painted using white color palette: the knees had extra armor over them and two small and short wing-like extensions.

Golden pieces of armor showed up over the ankles yet there was a space between them and the legs: they were bent upwards to form a triangle and included the wing shapes on their edges.

His feet's armor had two pieces of outer edge and another two-pieces separated by a slight space between the front and the rear of them.

He was reminiscent of a "fallen angel" given the color motifs.

"And Zarashe-sama told them "ask the Oracle Guilty Spark 343 for the road to glory"!"

"Sheesh. How _original_ of you, Zarashe-kun!"

Beta X's Operator, named Zarashe, opened his communications window and made a joke that Beta X didn't find amusing.

He had black messy hair and had sunglasses on: he could be around 16 or above.

"Anyway. We've located a secret entrance here." Burner Man pointed behind his left shoulder at the wall.

"Really? True! If you look closer, you can see marks of a door scratching the floor. Guess it's not properly designed and there's too little space between it and the floor." Beta X crouched to look at the floor.

"It opens outwards." Video Man added.

"You haven't gone it yet, right?" Zarashe asked.

"No. Legato-dono said to wait for you to come."

"I'm surprised you found it. It could've been anywhere along the length of the river." Beta X stood up.

"It was pure luck. I was leaning my back here when I noticed wind blowing outside on my back…" Burner Man explained.

"I see. And this is right beneath this house 2-story house…" Beta X looked up at the house about 10 meters higher up.

"Looking at registers, it's unused. It's on sale but nobody has bought it yet from the looks of it. Shah, shah, shah." Needle Man explained.

"Alright. So… Let's split. I and Burner Man will go in. Video Man, you surveil from the air. Needle Man, you secure this way out. Do you agree with the plan?" Beta X suggested.

"Sure. I'll record the surroundings. Maybe later we might find a hint of sorts…" Video Man nodded in agreement.

"Hmmm… Looks like there's a rain cycle incoming." Burner Man muttered as he looked up at the cloudy cyber-skies.

"That might affect the quality of my images a bit… Guess I'll use Killer Eyes as a backup." Video Man muttered as he rubbed his chin with the right hand.

"Good idea. Shah, shah, shah. I'll also put on a Dream Aura 'cause I don't wanna end up wet. Wait. Maybe this rain is intentional to rise the river's level and flood the basement?"

"Wouldn't surprise me in the least." Zarashe wasn't surprised.

"Hmmm… Maybe I'm not the best for this mission then. Change of plans. I'll get in and wait in the floor level. Make some holes in the floor to secure an escape route in case that the river exit can't be used. Let's place water Viruses here as sentries instead." Burner Man suggested.

"Alright. I'll patrol the surroundings of the ground level entrance in case I can secure other ways out too." Needle Man nodded.

"Agreed. Let's move. Time for some recordings!"

They all got into their positions as thunder began to rumble and rain began to fall: Beta X rushed into the basement entrance as he turned on a spotlight emitted from a device he attached his chest: the corridor was narrow, just wide enough for a person to go through and about two meters tall: he activated a hover function of his boots too as he formed a Jet Vernier backpack behind him and shot forward protected by a Dream Aura: he was already scanning the surroundings with radar.

"Sounds like a very contrived trap… Too predictable either. Maybe it's a big red herring to make us think there's something important here when there isn't." Beta X muttered aloud.

"Maybe we're overreacting to the guy's words to begin with. We have no evidence that that "rival" of the guy actually exists, do we?"

"I know. However, orders are orders. Slur-sama feels like there's something that was overlooked back then due to how the whole thing felt so anti-climactic and easily forgettable." Beta X argued back.

"Who goes there?" A gruff voice grumbled.

"Pest control." Beta X suddenly snickered.

"PEST! ME! HOW DARE YOU! I AM _HIS_ MASTERPIECE!"

"Whoa! Man! It's the guy, alright. From what Miquel told me…!"

Beta X rushed further in into a small room where there was a purple-colored sphere of energy that had a shape resembling a human skull; the room was a crossroad of four corridors extending in the four cardinal directions and the "skull" stared at Beta X.

"You lowlifes… Golden Star!" The "skull" growled.

"Same ones. We've got to get rid of the pests."

"I'm not pest! A MASTERPIECE!" The skull roared, annoyed.

"Truly. A Picasso." Beta X snickered again.

"GHDKBAJTBKSBH!"

"Where did that humor sense come from?" Zarashed asked.

"Slur-sama ordered me to use these to figure out whether this thing is the "rival" we're looking for not. It's the guy, alright."

"So when she said that we'd overlooked something… She meant this."

"Yeah. This mouse. The "piece of junk" as that "General Takeda" named it. Let's get rid of it here and now, I've been authorized to."

"I shall not go down so easily, you lowlifes! HIS world of darkness will become a reality! I shall see to it! I might not have the useless grunts anymore but my hatred makes me INVINCIBLE!"

"How cliché. Do you believe yourself to be Darth Sidious?"

"Don't put me on the same level as that nihilist fool! Roaaahhhh!"

The skull dashed for Beta X but he'd already loaded up his right arm buster: he shot a golden beam of energy at it and it roared as golden light emerged from inside of it and expanded eventually erasing the whole of it: Beta X quickly ran into the center of the crossroad and looked around.

"… Too easy. That wasn't the real one. It was a decoy."

"Obviously. That was the trap. But now we know the guy's alive."

"Yeah. However, he's but mice by now. He can't do anything."

"Hopefully so!" Zarashe sighed.

"Good point. We shouldn't get cocky. Let's rendezvous with the others, do another sweep of the area and then return to report. We earnt some results so Slur-sama should be pleased." Beta X got serious again.

"Yeah. Then again, how did "Takeda" know that? That's the puzzle."

"Maybe they used to be accomplices and broke off…"

_Good point. How are they related? Maybe this is bigger than we thought!_


	3. Chapter 3: Golden Star

**Chapter 3: Golden Star **

08:39 AM (Japan Time), Saturday April 8th

"… Sorry for summoning you so early but I thought the earlier we do this briefing, the better. Do you agree, Miquel-kun?"

"Sure, Boss. Let's get started."

"So we've yet to find where the real one is at, then? Legato."

"Unfortunately, yes. But maybe we can lure it out…"

Two persons and two Net Navis were meeting in a room somewhere made of steel and which had no windows.

The room had a wooden desk in the middle, and three wooden chairs placed both behind and in front of it.

The walls were mostly unadorned save for a painting in the back wall showing a decayed U-Boot covered in algae and resting in a lake somewhere, a clearing in the middle of a jungle, illuminated by the settling Sun.

"Noir-sama, sir. Should I bring some water?"

"No need to, Legato. We'll be brief… And I've got a bottle here beneath the desk anyway."

The person addressed as "Noir" wore a black monk's clothes with a heavy hood, which hid most of his face: he sported fingerless gloves on his hands and since he was stretching his legs, it was clear he wore black and white sneakers and white socks.

In terms of height, he looked about a meter and seventy tall, maybe a bit taller.

As he spoke, he brought up a PVC water bottle from beneath the desk, put it atop it, and opened a drawer to take out some plastic cups, which he placed atop the desk to then pour water in.

"I see, sir. As ready as ever, sir."

"Oh yes. That's my nature, Legato."

"I apologize for being over-redundant, sir."

A Net Navi named Legato was standing behind Noir's right side in a firm pose as if he was a guard in duty.

Legato used black as his main "skin" color, yet his upper torso had red blood armor built over it: there were two black shapes drawn over the shoulders having a golden rim and a thin black line spread from the base of the neck to the lower edge of the armor.

His helmet's main color was blood red as well, yet the inner edges surrounding his thick red shades had a tint of purple to them:

An emblem with a black edge was set on the chest: it consisted of white and black halves split by a thunderbolt-shaped line: white was golden and silver was right.

A purple band formed on the forehead and circled the whole diameter of it: two valley-shaped cavities had been inserted into the sides of it and they ended in golden circles: a "fin" sprouted from the top of the helmet thus giving it a menacing-like look.

The forearms were colored blood red and had two purple-colored parallel formations that originated at the sides of the emblem atop each hand's palm: they spread over the edge of the forearm while forming a pyramid-like shape.

His right forearm currently held a purple-colored Long Sword with a customized hilt.

The central body of the forearm was now colored metallic gray and had two purple circles colored yellow inside: a purplish-colored blade emerged around a cone-shaped purple-colored formation: the blade looked sharp and menacing for some reason or another.

His boots began slightly below the knee and had purple-colored diamond-like shapes that extended as high as the knee: they were colored blood red as well: the soils were colored purple, too.

Lastly, a wild flock of silver hair came out from behind the helmet and covered all of his body's back.

Overall, he looked like a revamped Blues.

"Oh, don't mind it! Anyway. Let's get down to business. Miquel-kun. And Andy."

"Roger, Boss. Kage Miquel here will reel out the guy's shadow."

The other human in the room, Kage Miquel, had blonde hair and, since he'd put sunglasses on, his eyes weren't visible.

His choice of clothing consisted on a brown overcoat, a pair of jeans and black knee-tall boots.

He also wore a black wool bandana with a five-pointed golden star set against a black background inside of a silver circle as emblem.

"And Andy here will bathe the guy in silver coins."

"Not bad!"

Andy, the other visitor, was about standard height, that is, over a meter and seventy, maybe closer to eighty.

His eyes' irises were a mix of red and golden and he didn't seem to be too surprised or amused, either.

Some silver-colored hair could be seen emerging from beneath his helmet as well.

His whole body with the exception of his forearms and boots was painted in a bright silver color.

The boots and forearms, however, had been tinted in a slightly rusted bronze color.

A bronze-colored thin vertical stripe ran across his body from the neck to the end of the crotch crossing over his silver-edged chest emblem (the very same on Kage's bandana).

"Good. So as you heard… "Void" was actually alive."

"I can guess how. The guy was a robot to begin with. His mind was a program, not unlike Net Navis. When we cornered him back then and he self-destructed, he'd actually transferred his consciousness program into the central computer and from there beamed it to the surface… The sudden intrusion of "that subject" took our attention away and, ironically, gave the guy the window necessary to flee without us noticing. The anti-climactic feeling of the whole deal also contributed without the guy intending it… Talk about ironic. We had the guy there and he gave us the slip…!" Kage sighed as he leant back on the chair.

"No-one's perfect. Slur-sama always says so." Andy conformed him as he sat to his right.

"I'm surprised he had the patience to wait for so long… Given the mental breakdown the guy had I'd expected him to run wild and destroy everything in sight." Legato commented.

"About that… Slur-sama got some info from XY. It'd seem that "that person" had actually found Void's data in the central computer, trying to locate a set of spare bodies hidden across the world, and sealed Void there to avoid the guy getting in their way. Once we caught "that person", the control signal keeping the guy trapped stopped. It'd seem there was also a timer to keep him "asleep" for a while… And it only deactivated last week." Noir exposed as he leant forward.

"That explains it. The question remains, though… Who is "Takeda" and why does the guy know that? I'm sure that his stunt was to call attention to the river… How did he know Void or, rather, his decoy, would be there? Out of all places in the world…" Kage brought up next.

"According to info Zero hacked out of the central computer, one of the spare bodies was hidden in Fukuoka. Turns out someone got there ahead of both Void and us and had already destroyed it. I suspect it was "that person" or their underlings, Judge Man and Element Man. As a way to assure Void wouldn't be a hindrance…"

"Now it's all coming together!"

"Yeah. He's found the location of another 8 bodies… Already destroyed."

"How many spare bodies did the guy have? Man. Thought he was lazily sitting in that hole all these years doing nothing but waiting for a chance to shine but it'd seem he actually had planned a lot of things in advance…"

"Insofar he's found 30."

"30! Man! But how were they made without anyone noticing or reporting them to begin with?" Andy asked, surprised.

"Those spare bodies are actually Copy Roids."

"Ah! That explains it! He found a way to mass-produce Copy Roids secretly and hid them across the world. Guess that he got a hold of the data that that "Sisterhood of Pureness" stole from the Science Labs some time ago and leaked in the dark net…" Kage realized.

"Yeah. We're trying to decipher the locations of each to see if we can ambush Void somewhere before he can install himself in one of those but I think chances are dim and he's already gotten a new body to operate here, in the real world, already…" Noir sighed.

"Sadly, that seems to be the most realistic outcome."

A buzz suddenly rang out and Legato walked over to the next to the armored door where an interphone system was built-in: he pressed a button to display the caller; it was a young boy who had white messy hair plus eyes with brown irises.

"Oh. Leon-kun. What's wrong?" Noir called out from across the room.

"Excuse me, Noir-san, but Napalm Man ran off because someone challenged him to prove he's "hottest man on the cyber world"… And I have the feeling he'll bump into someone else…" He explained.

"Lovely. I suspect Element Man's handiworks." Noir sighed.

"And let devil bite me if Raging Flame from Shunoros didn't get the same challenge and they're gonna fight each other due to a misunderstanding…" Kage groaned next.

The five of them sighed aloud…

08:52 AM (Japan Time)…

"ORAH-ORAH-ORAAAHHH! Make way for hottest man in the Cyber World, Napalm Man-sama!"

"Don't make me laugh you wannabe! Raging Flame-sama over here is the HOTTEST!"

"So ya are the jerk who sent me that challenge!"

"Don't play dumb! YOU sent me that thing!"

"Fight!"

"Fine! We'll settle once and for all who the HOTTEST MAN is!"

Napalm Man had run into a desolated square somewhere in the Cyber World surrounded by tall concrete walls while yelling and swinging his arms around: another Navi ran in and they began to yell at each other while they got in fighting poses.

Raging Flame had a helmet on which only protected the front and sides of his head: his hair freely flew out from behind him: transparent red shades covered his eyes, which had brown irises.

The helmet's forehead included a large metallic horn and two yellow shapes near the outer edges shaped like the Alphabet "M" character, which were glowing with a brightness-changing yellowish light: one moment it glowed strongly the other it glowed in a faint manner.

There was a metallic edge running across the forehead and along the length of the sides together with the ear-pads: they had the drawing of the "honoo" or "Flame" _kanji_ in orange color against a black background.

His chest armor appeared to be thick stuff and had four diagonal-oriented grayish diamonds built into it: the Alphabet letters "RF" colored yellow had been drawn on the center.

The shoulder armor was thick as well: there was a round yellowish band circling the shoulder joint and from there reddish armor extended to protect the whole shoulder.

The armor ended with three short metallic claws set on the edge of a valley-like opening.

There was a bit of exposed arm covered by black "skin" before the forearms' armor (starting at the elbows) began: the forearms' armor started with a circle protecting the elbow and a metallic diamond-shaped piece set over the upper edge of it while aiming upwards.

The rest of the forearm and hand were protected by a layer of armor in the form of a cylinder's upper half with two brownish plates set over there: it also had a small brownish dot on the left side of the armor, which looked like decoration.

A small crevice split the set into two parts: the aforementioned part and a more simplistic running across the reverse of the forearm and wrist: his hands were covered in black "skin" as well.

The upper body and legs were covered in black "skin" like the hands and the exposed arms.

Some brownish diamonds were set in a column running down the sides of the body until where the large boots began, at around the knees.

The boots were thick and big as well and they began at the knee: a metallic hexagon was set on the upper edge and its upper half served as additional protection for the legs: their dominant color was, of course, a fierce bright red color: another two hexagons were stacked below the upper edge along with two small diamonds: these two small diamonds extended from the second hexagon's SW and SE corners.

A thin black line travelled from the ankle to the start of the fingers before drawing an arch and forming a small black cavity from which a metallic triangle emerged and pointed northwards: there was another one large in size and colored in a dull orange color immediately below and the rest of the boots were the double-thickness soils formed by two large curved-edged triangles.

He could be over a meter and seventy tall and, from the face, a teenager about Enzan's age.

"Magma Buster!"

"Napalm Bomb!"

Raging Flame loaded energy on his buster and shot a blast of magma towards Napalm Man who answered by firing one of his bombs: the bomb's detonation cancelled the magma and both yelled as they ran towards each other and began to hit each other with the fists and the arms to then jump away and form "auras" of flames around them: they roared and hovered before jumping at each other and clashing with none yielding to the other: their clashes caused heat waves but they were contained by the tall concrete walls yet the floor wasn't made of concrete so it began to steadily melt down.

"Outta the way! Tank maniac!" Raging Flame roared.

"You're one to talk! Volcano maniac!" Napalm Man yelled back

"I'm so gonna blow you up!"

"Same over here!"

Both roared as the color of their auras shifted to a darker shade of orange: the ground was clearly melting by now but none had noticed due to their hover energy and how they were trying to push each other.

"That is enough! Holy Shock!"

"Uwah!"

"Groah!"

Some familiar green-colored spheres of energy rained down on both combatants, bypassing the "aura" altogether and hitting them, hard, before detonating and stunning them: a new layer of metal panels floor formed as both dropped them, groaning; a familiar golden light filled the area as a figure gallantly hovered down from above and landed in the center.

"What in the…?"

"Who the hell? A cosplay jerk?"

"Hey, you two… In case you forgot this is Serenade. The Reverse King, y'know. And I'm Vladimir, his apprentice."

"Geh! Serenade!"

"Oh crap! Slur-sama's buddy!"

"Indeed. I do think she will be ANNOYED."

The "figure" turned out to be Serenade, who was sighing out of exasperation as a normal brown-colored standard Navi stood a few steps behind the right side of his body.

"Napalm Man, you moron! What the hell have you done now?" Legato roared as he ran into the square.

"Flame, you fool! The Prince sent me to drag you back! You're in for a LECTURE!" Blue Wave ran in from the other side.

"Oh shit." Both groaned.

"KAHKAHKAHKAHAHAH!"A familiar laughed rang out.

They all groaned as they spotted Element Man literally looking down on them as he rode a Dash Condor Virus higher in the air and crossed his arms as if he was the king of everything.

"Oh fuck!" Both realized the meaning.

"Yes. He, for once, used his CPU and realized both of you are prone to anger when challenged about "heat"… Legato warned me so I rushed over here to stop you before you fell into the Reverse Internet and into a nest of shark Viruses he'd readied…" Serenade sighed.

"What the hell!" Both roared.

"This guy's either been seeing _Jaws_ or _Indiana Jones…_ And had the _brilliant_ idea to mix them up." Vladimir sighed.

"Lovely!" Legato growled.

"When will you behave like a mature Navi?" Leon opened his communications window and growled, annoyed.

"Sheesh! You're one to talk, Golden Leo! Ya always lack the passion!"

"I have passion! But I don't use it for pointless bragging!"

"Yeah. Bragging makes you feel invincible when you aren't." Vladimir added with a sigh.

"Someone explain to me what is going on!"

"Oh shit!"

"Well. That child over there used these two children's natures to make them fight and then drop them into a trap… Slur."

Slur suddenly hovered down into the area and she was terribly annoyed to the increasing angst of Napalm Man: Serenade sighed and explained to her what was going on in a few words.

"GARAKAHNYAGRAH!" Element Man howled.

"Yes. I said "child". Because you behave like one." Serenade sighed.

"Like a spoiled brat who thinks he'll get away with anything." Vladimir added with a sigh.

"Really…" A voice sighed over Vladimir's radio.

"Yes, Dr. Cossack, I am afraid they did not understand the lesson. I wonder why we bother, even." Serenade replied to the caller.

"Hmpf! That happens because you are too passionate!" Slur grumbled at Serenade.

"And now I am to blame? Did you not say XY was the one who suggested letting them loose as a motivation for both your men and Prince Kuroban's men to train?" Serenade argued back.

"Sheesh." Slur had to admit he had a point.

She turned around and extended her right palm: some yellow spots formed on Napalm Man's body and wires with a small brown cylinder at the end emerged to wrap around his body: she then formed some strings linking him to her and swung him upwards towards a portal.

"Quarantine for 15 days!" She sentenced.

"No way~!" Napalm Man yelled before vanishing inside.

"I'm very DISAPPOINTED, Flame!" Kuroban roared at him.

"Yes, sir…! I shall abide by your punishments…!" Raging Flame gulped and lowered his head in shame.

"You will hand over your PET and stay off the base for 15 days! No salary during those days either! So learn to ration it!" He hissed.

"Yes, sir…! I understand, sir…!"

"What are you waiting for?" Slur lashed at Serenade again.

"What, you mean Element Man? You know I dislike violence. If you want to give him a lesson, feel free to. Do not blame me for factors that you did not account for. Are you not the one who keeps saying, "no-one is perfect" to begin with? Now it turns you are a hypocrite?" Serenade argued back, getting annoyed, for once.

"Sheesh!" Slur hissed again.

"Hah! Look at how miserable you all are!" A voice rang out.

"Hmpf! You are one to talk too, you defective piece of junk…"

The "skull" (Void) appeared in the air and taunted them: Element Man quickly dashed towards it but it was a hologram.

"Fool! I shall make you pay for betraying me!"

Element Man merely scoffed as if wanting to say, "I don't care".

"If you can do so much why not come destroy us? If you can that, that is. You piece of scrap." Slur challenged.

"Hmpf! That's not my duty! My duty is to ready all for the descent of my lord, who slumbers beyond the great void!"

"Hmpf. You are no better than a politician."

"POLITICIAN! ME! YOU WILL REGRET THAT!"

"Spill it. Who's Takeda? Your buddy?" Vladimir taunted.

"I don't know who the hell they are or how they know about me! As if, I didn't have enough trouble finding a still intact spare body! It's all your fault, you defectives! I took you out of that rotten hole and that's how you thank me, huh?" He barked at Element Man.

Element Man fumed and opened a window where some text was being typed in real time.

"You only saw on us useful blackmail material to be thrown away when our usefulness expired. We simply waited for you to fail in a miserable way and then have our revenge."

"The hell! When did you learn to use the CPU?"

"We always could use it. Our revenge blinded us on how to really use it. This was supposed to be a demonstration that when I get serious I can make good use of my intelligence."

"Hmpf. Let rubbish destroy each other." Slur fumed.

"Truly." Kuroban added.

"Grrrr! Bring out XY! This time I will annihilate him!"

"Oh yes. How? You failed miserably last time around."

"With my new weapon: annihilation EM waves! To fry brains!"

"What the…? Pfffttttt! Sounds like something taken out _Flash Gordon_ or some low-budget sci-fi movie!" Vladimir was unimpressed.

"Yes. Like there was something _so convenient_. Fry brains? That's the best idea you have?" Dr. Cossack sighed in exasperation too.

"I know who you really are, black God of destruction!"

"That was my past self. A split personality. I am back to whom I was supposed to be. You don't impress me. "Big Cheese" Mendez was far more impressive. Gramps." Vladimir wasn't impressed.

"Who the hell?" Void growled.

"Hmpf. You're no better than that man… Using a hologram to taunt us, disappearing for years, and then emerging… Doing big blows there and there and inflicting damage… But in the end they were cornered and also self-destroyed in a last desperate attempt…" Slur muttered.

"Who the hell are you talking about?" Void growled.

"I guess some fictional work's big villain who ended up like you." She shrugged and didn't seem to care.

"My new anti-interlopers bioweapon is ready to be unleashed! The world shall be HIS!"

"I wonder about that. Maybe you actually are fed up of being the proxy and want to become the man himself… To become a God in his stead. Your subconscious and greed betray you, defective."

"N-no way! I am HIS ultimate masterpiece! HE will come back from beyond the void! I am its gatekeeper!"

"A masterpiece wouldn't have a panic attack, would it?"

"I've had ENOUGH!"

The skull vanished and everyone grumbled: Element Man punched the sides of his torso and dashed away before the others could react: Blue Wave, Raging Flame and Legato had already left in the meanwhile so only Slur, Serenade and Vladimir were left there.

"Refraction. I know you are there. Show yourself." Slur called out.

"Yes, Lady Slur."

A Navi became visible standing next to the right side entrance.

He had long abundant white hair, were on their late 20s or early 30s, lacked facial hair and had golden eye irises: their gaze was calm and collected.

He was simply wrapped in a long white coat with a lowered heavy hood.

He made a polite reverence when appearing.

"Is XY at his… lab?"

"Yes, my lady."

"Did he hear all of this?"

"No. Today I was not ordered to report live. I must go back to his lab to report in person." He admitted.

"Fine. Then take me along. I need to vent and he is the only one with the patience to bear with my long-winded venting." She ordered.

"Understood, my lady. I shall guide you." He stood up and saluted.

"I admit you were right, Serenade. I was simply fed up with this circus and could not help but wanting to blame someone." Slur admitted although she was giving him the back and still looking irritated.

"As long as you admit that…"

Slur fumed and turned invisible along with Refraction: Serenade sighed as a portal opened and both he and Vladimir stepped in to exit into a place decorated like a typical living room with armchairs, a table, a fireplace and bookshelves.

"We are home, Dr. Cossack."

"Welcome back. You can take out the disguise now, Forte."

"Sure."

"Vladimir" glowed blue for a few seconds before his figure thinned and vanished altogether to reveal Forte: Dr. Cossack had opened his communications window and looked calm and collected.

"What a morning!" Forte groaned.

"Yes. Woken up at 3AM is no fun!" Dr. Cossack yawned.

"Nobody said it was!" Serenade sighed.

"But, really… Doesn't Slur feel like a _tsundere_ sometimes?"

"Yes. I must admit that. I generally do not rely on such words, but…"

"That Void clown will probably expose himself sooner or later, running out of patience. That guy asides… Who's "Takeda" and what does he want? Are we sure it's not a ploy by Void?" Dr. Cossack wondered.

"Good point. We have no proof to affirm anything. Void could be pretending as well, for all we know."

"As long as he doesn't turn out like Albert Wesker we can deal with the guy… Hopefully he doesn't think of emulating Terminators." Forte sarcastically muttered.

"Better not say that, Forte. There's a saying… "Be careful what you wish for, it might just come true"…" Dr. Cossack warned.

"Good point. Fuwaaahhh… I need some more sleep. My processing all feel slow because I didn't allocate enough RAM… Gotta cleanse some cache as well else junk data builds up…" Forte yawned as he sat in an armchair next to the fire.

"I need some more sleep else too or I won't be able to continue working on scoring the math tests of the college students… I must have them done by Tuesday, too!" Dr. Cossack muttered aloud.

"I will have a check at the security systems too." Serenade muttered as he walked away.

"Sure. Never hurts. Guess tomorrow I'll resume watching the play-through of _Mario Party 9_." Forte stretched his arms.

He soon fell asleep in the armchair and Serenade sighed as he formed a slightly saddened expression on his face.

_It has taken long and a lot of suffering but Forte has been finally been purged of his hatred… While it is true that thanks to Rock Man's kindness his other persona had achieved some level of respect, it soon was overtaken by the unending thirst for battling and revenge for humans… At least his core personality, marred by that tragedy, has been rescued and thus he can start anew… I shall not allow anyone to make him suffer anymore. I shall see to it. Such is my purpose. To ensure he does not veer off this new path in life… I will always be by your side, Forte…_


	4. Chapter 4: Amusements

**Chapter 4: Amusements**

13:33 AM (Japan Time), Monday April 10th…

"… So! Lilycove! Is Felix Leiter close by?"

"Dunno. Ask the radar, Joanne-chan."

"Heh! Good answer yeah!"

"And when will you stop calling me "Lilycove"? I'm "Lily". End of the tale."

"And start of the _manzai_ comedy!"

"How brilliant."

"Shah, shah, shah! Hey, Tozukana! If we don't move out we're sitting ducks here, ya know? Tom and Qong are experts at sneaking in without making any noise!"

"Sure, Needle Man. Let's cove, Lily!"

"_How original_."

The place was a forest somewhere: a girl and a Navi had been crouching and hiding between bushes while wearing camouflage vests over their usual clothing: Needle Man joined them and suggested them to move out.

"Tokuzana Joanne-sama, the vile sniper, has arrived!"

Tozukana, the girl, was on her late teens or maybe early 20s.

Her hair was tinted black even though some patches of brown hair could be seen beneath it and her eyes' irises were brown.

She looked smug and amused.

She wore a black leather one-piece suit, which covered her body starting slightly beneath the shoulders plus purple leather boots.

She also held a PSG-1 sniper rifle on her hands, which she wasn't aiming at the moment.

"Sheesh. Let's move it."

Lily, the Navi, had a _Goth_ look to her given her use of heels, two metallic loose bracelets in her forearms and a collar with spikes protruding from it around her neck.

Her helmet's forehead had the word "Goth" engraved on it using scarlet red letters and her eyes' irises were scarlet red.

The bodysuit's predominant color was black with some patches of white scattered like stains there and there.

She could be around a meter and seventy tall.

She currently looked somewhat annoyed.

"OK!"

The three of them moved as silently as possible through the foliage, away from the clearing, and down a hill while checking a 3D radar image showing several colored dots moving around a huge map: a leaderboard was also being displayed in the right side of it.

"OK! We're currently 4th rank! Leiter is only 6th! So if we avoid the guy and can land some hints on the others, we can make it further up!"

"Don't get cocky. Cosmo Man and Shade Man are also good at sneaking around as well. Freeze Man isn't taking part today." Lily scolded.

"Sure, sure. Let them come, I'll paint 'em green!"

"Napalm Man is in "quarantine" and Burner Man is on a mission… Video Man is taking part, yeah…" Needle Man warned.

"Zarashe-kun and Beta X are also joining us today." Lily reported.

"What about the… Hum… I mean… Ikada? Is the gal and Bertha here today? I guess they are, no?"

"Nope. They're on a mission too. It's a Monday, after all. Same for Agoras-kun and Victor."

"Crap. Thought it was Sunday!" Tozukana groaned.

"It's not, sadly enough."

"Whoa!"

"Oh!"

"No way!"

"Target… hit."

"As expected."

"Sheesh! Felix Leiter."

"Qong."

Qong had short brown hair, which had been cut into a military haircut but was largely hidden by a grayish cap with no logos on it whatsoever: his eyes were hidden behind a pair of sunglasses too.

He wore a sleeveless camouflage-colored vest over a black long-sleeved shirt plus a pair of jeans.

"And Tommy!"

"Tom."

Tom, Qong's Navi, was standing to his right.

He could easily be around a meter and eighty tall and he had the looks of an assassin to him given his cold scarlet red irises and the total lack of emotion on his face.

Other traits included self-inflicted cuts over his upper chest, which looked like a count of victims: 17 cuts were engraved in there insofar.

His main bodysuit color was gray combined with red armlets around the ankles and wrists: his hands had an extra layer of "skin" colored brown and he sported a utility belt around the waist set with some grenades and knives on them plus a Makarov pistol.

"Sheesh. You're so LOUD, you drew everyone to our location! I knew it wasn't a good idea to tag with ya, Tozukana." Needle Man sighed.

"Sheesh!" Tokuzana complained.

"Reversal of tables." Qong drily announced as he looked at the leaderboards.

"You had to go on setting up "flags"… I mean, you were getting confident and I knew that couldn't end up well." Lily sighed.

"Hmpf. None can rival me." Qong muttered.

"Oh yes? Thinking yourself king of the world, young man?" Someone scolded over a sound-only channel.

"Huh! President Hades, sir!" He instinctively saluted.

"May I remind you that's not what you're here for?"

"Huh… Yes, sir." He hesitated, for once.

"I would appreciate if you moved elsewhere, Miss Tokuzana and company. I have some talk with him." President Hades requested.

"R-roger, President! Let's go to the north area, guys!"

"OK."

"Roger!"

Tozukana and the other two rushed away while Tom rolled his eyes as if he'd expected this to happen sooner or later.

"I hope you weren't planning on bragging that you're the best sniper in the world… Or were you?" President Hades questioned with a hint of annoyance on his voice.

"Eh… Well… T-that's…" He hesitantly replied, for once.

"Maybe you can tell me? Mr. Tom."

"Eh… Yes, sir. He sometimes complained that merely using tranquilizer rounds wasn't enough for him… Or why didn't the Sri Lanka militia he was part of send him to the frontlines…" Tom admitted.

"Thought so. It was about time we had some serious talk about these topics, my young man. Report to my office once you're done."

"Y-yes, sir. At once, sir."

"It's not like I want to make you feel uncomfortable, but… As your CO, I am obliged to look out after you and make sure you don't do anything that makes living here with the other members hard. I'm not asking you to become super talkative either. Just that you don't get too confident. Because that leads to defeat." He exposed.

"R-roger, sir."

"I'll be waiting."

The channel shut down and Qong gulped before sighing: Tom wasn't too surprised as Qong shook his head as if to focus again.

"I suspected this would happen sooner or later, Felix. Remember that they provided you a place when you had none. I'm here, too. We might not talk much but hey, at least I can be of help to you… No?"

"… Yeah. My bad, Tom. Guess I haven't been taking things too seriously as of late… I really have to apologize to President Hades…" He sighed, for once.

"We'll talk it with him. He's worried about you, too, you know. He just wants to make sure he made the right choice back then."

"Yeah. I understand… What's the status? Huh? We got down to 5th? Well, no wonder. Let's move out and see if we can find others."

"Roger."

Both silently made their way uphill and laid in wait near a crossroad next to a river: some sounds rang out and painting landed on them from behind: they turned around to see Zarashe and Beta X running away so Qong smirked, for once, and gave chase along with Tom who was also getting in a good mood.

_He doesn't want to admit it but he does smile and can have fun at life; it's just that he was trained not to show it to others hence why he appears so dull and hostile sometimes… Felix… We're not machines, we have emotions… You needn't feel ashamed at them, partner!_

14:02 PM (Japan Time)…

"… President Hades, sir? It's me, Ikada Bertha, sir."

"And Sandra."

"Please come in."

"Thank you, sir."

A girl and her Navi partner entered a room.

This room was an office room containing a desk and visitor chairs plus a set of three metallic drawers to store files yet the only piece of non-practical furniture was a canvas hanging from the furthest wall and having an oil-based drawing of a four-mast windjammer sailing into the sunset.

There was an open laptop computer placed atop the desk.

The man, President Hades, was sitting on a chair behind the desk; he seemed to be on his late 20s and about a meter and eighty-five centimeters tall: his hair was neatly combed and brownish in coloring.

His eyes' irises were brown in coloring and he was clean-shaven.

His clothes consisted on a black suit coupled with black tie and black quality pants: he looked like a typical executive.

A gray trench coat was hanging from a perch set in the right wall near the door along with a brown hat having a black band around it.

"You look tired, sir."

"I just had a talk with Mr. Qong… To address some of his recent behavior and doubts. Fortunately enough, we could be frank to each other and I think this might lead to an improvement on him."

"That would be great, sir."

"But please sit down. You must be tired from the mission."

"Thank you, sir."

"Alright. Please tell me what you found… Ms. Ikada."

Ikada Bertha, the Operator, was on her early 20s.

She had long platinum blond hair plus eyes with blue irises to them: she had a ruthless-like figure to her, even.

She sported a golden-colored jacket over a teal sweater plus navy blue jeans and a pair of black boots.

She carried a cobalt-colored Link PET with a golden-colored Alphabet "S" character on it as emblem.

"Alright, Sandra. Please bring up the data."

"Sure, Bertha-chan."

Sandra, the Navi, had a ruby set on her helmet's forehead.

She had green eye irises and reddish hair and seemed to be on her early 20s.

Her bodysuit's main color was cobalt coupled with a golden band around the waist, golden shoulder plates and golden bracelets on both the wrists and the ankles.

Spiral-shaped magenta patterns travelled down her arms and legs' surfaces while eight lines of the same color spread from the blackish edge of her chest emblem.

"We found that this "Takeda" was actually a former contractor of the JSDF who'd been in charge of computer security… He'd overheard Chief Sorodo of the Net Police Cyber CID explain to some officers about "Void" and Shadow Nova, his terrorist organization… Turns out, he'd always been a "sleeper agent" of the Seraphs… That giant conglomerate that planned to create a new world order a few years ago…" Ikada exposed as she signaled some data shown in the 3D screen.

"I see. All that show he made was part of a distraction by Void, then? Are we sure about it?" Hades leant forward.

"… To tell you the truth, sir… No, sir. It feels… too convenient, sir."

"Ah. So you felt the same."

"Yes, sir. Even though we reached him in a long-winded way by checking who might've had access to persons who knew the identity of Void… It feels like it's a red herring planted to make us believe it's a deceit that Void himself staged to draw attention away from himself." Ikada exposed her ideas.

"Hmmm… So we're back at square one, then?"

"So it'd seem, sir. All other info we found is that there's recently been some hacking attempts into JSDF Navy data… They all failed but these also feel like a red herring too."

"Red herrings everywhere… Maybe that's their goal. To plant so many red herrings to the point that we can't be sure of which is the real one. I know we've had to deal with similar cases in the past, but… This one feels unlike them. There's… something I can't properly describe. A feeling of… dread. As if Void is the least of our problems, right now… As if… this is but the prelude to something else…" He leant back and sighed.

"It could be the case, sir…"

"Insofar we've found that the total of spare bodies is 66, but…"

"66? Sheesh. It's probably a joke based on the "superstitions" of the number 666 but… It feels illogical from a logical PoV, no?" Sandra frowned and rubbed her chin.

"And Copy Roid tech didn't exist when Void was designed so… It wasn't his maker who decided the number, I guess. Or didn't expect him to ever make those spare bodies." Ikada argued.

"Oh yes. We can be sure of it. Because when going over the data we copied from Void's hideout's central computer, we found something interesting… And I'm sure Void himself hasn't realized."

"What was it, sir?"

"The original robot body Void was installed in… Had an emergency stop button behind the head, on the neck's base… Keep it pressed for 5 seconds; it'll stop all systems ASAP… And it can't self-reboot, either."

"I see. His creator was so paranoid that he foresaw a possible "rebellion" by his creation so he added an "insurance" to stop him was he ever to try to physically attack him…"

"Yes. Which means that all those claims of being a "masterpiece" are but his delusional ego. His creator only intended for him to be a puppet, a distraction, a pawn to revere him as a God. Because at some point he probably believed himself "God of darkness" or something like that. Given how arrogant he was… Not much different from "him"…" Hades began to expose; towards the end, he lowered his voice and muttered more for himself than his public.

"Him, sir? Do you mean the Crimson Lobby, sir?"

"Huh? Ah, yes. Of course." He quickly replied.

A buzz rang out and Hades clicked an icon on his laptop's screen: a close-up of Zero appeared there.

"Mr. Zero. Did something happen?"

"Yeah. Looks like the culprits are in the move. An explosion has happened in a cyber-building in Nagoya. It's collapsed but sensor data reveals that two Shunoros members, Raging Cyclone and Ruthless Vine had gone in to investigate. I've relocated Freeze Man and Burner Man to go assist them. Do you agree with it?" Zero exposed.

"Totally. Shunoros is our "rivals" but that doesn't mean we won't cooperate when he have a goal in common. If they need more help, don't hesitate to ask for the other members to go assist as well."

"Roger. I'll try to gather as much sensor data as I can to try to figure out the current state of things over there. Keep workings, guys!" He looked out to the right.

"ROGER! SEYAH! AT LIGHTSPEED! FULL SPEED AHEAD!" Several Program-kun voices rang out in unison.

"Who programs that behavior in them? Serenade-dono?"

"Oh no. It's his apprentice Vladimir and his sense of humor."

"Oh, I see. Well, as long as it helps shake off tension… I know Mademoiselle isn't too fond of it but I insist that it helps deal with the dullness…" Hades looked slightly amused.

"Of course. I'll report if we find anything new."

"Excuse me, sir. Maybe I could go help them as well. The more the better, no?" Sandra offered.

"But of course, Miss. Feel free to it. Please remain in contact with Ms. Ikada and report the status of things."

"Roger, sir. I'll be going, sir."

Sandra stood up, nodded at Ikada, and warped away into the Cyber World: Hades stood up and so did Ikada.

"I'll be going to the deck; I need some fresh air. Do as you like, Miss, but please support Miss Sandra in her mission."

"But of course, sir."

"Ah yes. Please refrain from provoking Ms. Tozukana. I don't want to have more problems that we already have." He warned.

"Y-yes, sir. Understood, sir."

"Good. Good-bye."

Hades walked out of the office followed by Ikada; they emerged into a corridor with several armored doors, interphones with built-in keypads, banners on the doors and fluorescent lamps in the ceiling; the structure was somewhat reminiscent of the insides of a ship; the corridor extended both left and right.

"I shall be in my room, sir."

"Good."

Ikada headed to the left while Hades headed to the right.

_Alright. Let's check up on Sandra and the others and see if they can help those two fellows trapped in the rubble…_

14:12 PM (Japan Time)…

"… What the hell is this maze for?"

"Dunno."

"Any idea of where we are, Cyclone?"

"Nope, Vine. I'm as lost as you are."

Two Navis of "Shunoros" were talking while trying to find a way outside of a huge, dark maze extending beneath the residential district of the Nagoya Internet City.

"Devil! Ruthless Vine, my fellow… I think we're in trouble."

"Needless said, Fighting Cyclone…"

Ruthless Vine used a patch of pale green as main coloring: the forehead had been extended forward to form a triangle: this triangle had a patch colored in a lush green color coupled with two small rectangular yellow-colored slits on the bottom edges close to the metallic edge circling the prolongation.

They were largely reminiscent of eyes: the "kusa" or "grass" _Kanji_ had been colored in a mud brown color on the very front of the helmet.

The rest of the helmet used that pale green coloring in a small patch above the lush green segment and in the parts near the rear: two small metallic extensions flanked the sides of the head.

These ended at the same level as the lower jaw: a brownish square with two triangle ends allowed for the fusion of the helmet's segment mid-way across the head.

Two metallic short-length lances aiming diagonally upwards extending past the head: a pair of transparent greenish shades covered his eyes the irises of which were emerald green too.

His chest armor was rather flat in contrast to other Shunoros members and the initials "RV" in a mud brown color were set on the center of the chest armor.

A small additional lush green plaque with a trapeze-shaped indentation on its lower edge had been attached blow the chest armor by the use of two white hexagons, which also were reminiscent of eyes.

A brownish edge surrounded the neck's base and travelled irregularly across half of the shoulder armor's upper edges: it turned metallic white and ended as spikes aiming outwards right on the outer edge of the shoulders' armor: their lower half was also colored lush green and the division was set as line forming two "V" shapes on its path.

The arms and legs' armor was similar to that of the other members.

"Who'd want to build this under a residential district? I thought that unlike real world cities, Cyber cities were built from a foundational layer and that was it. They don't need plumbing or sewers or so anyway so there should anything extra beneath them…"

Fighting Cyclone used green as his main color.

His helmet was also partial since the rear was unshielded and his purple-tinted hair emerged from behind.

It was split into two parts: the uppermost part had a dome protruding off the helmet's center and protected by further armor, which, as seen from the front, amounted to a trapeze with two extensions reminiscent of antennae aiming backwards.

Two narrow yellowish pyramids formed from the rear section of the dome and aimed backwards: the center of the trapeze had the "_kaze_" or "wind" _Kanji_ colored purple set there.

The second part of the helmet could be described as an inverted trapeze covering the center of the forehead and with two slightly curved lines aiming backwards and which ended with another pair of inverted trapezes coupled with a bit of black armor: the ear-pads were also purple in color but had no drawing there yet they had a black edge as seen from the outside while the edge running down the cheeks was white.

A pair of greenish transparent shades protected his eyes the irises of which were brown.

The chest armor began with a round blue metallic collar around the base of the neck and, from there, an inverted triangle-shaped piece of greenish armor extended with the purple initials "FC" scrawled on its centermost spot.

The shoulders had an initial upper-half-of-a-cylinder armor coupled with further armor with curved greenish armor built in segments: two white paws were set on the foremost and rearmost sections.

His forearms, like most Navis, had armor starting at the elbow and protecting them: it was built using a green circle plus a green cylinder reaching until the wrist.

Three fins were arranged in a row over the whole of the armor paired with a pair of white metallic blades reminiscent of a dragon's ones starting at the wrist and extending past the hands' length: the exposed arm was covered in black "skin" too.

Similar to Raging Flame, the body below the torso and until the knees was only shielded by black "skin" and a row of dull gray metallic squares ran down the length of both sides.

The legs' armor began at the knees with a blade aiming upwards and a navy blue round edge with a diagonal depression: the rest of the boots were rather plain green models with two bands splitting the boots in three segments colored deep green.

Lastly, a metallic green piece with orange edge reminiscent of a dragon's tail emerged from the rear of the torso's armor.

His overall height was over a meter and seventy tall.

"Hmpf! Welcome to the Endless Maze! You'll die of hunger and your corpses will rot here forever!" Void's voice taunted.

"Aren't you forgetting something, gramps?" Ruthless Vine wasn't impressed.

"Yeah. I think you're getting SENILE." Fighting Cyclone smirked.

"Wha~t?" Void growled.

"We ARE humans, but… Our "Denpa-Henkan" form temporarily allows us to become program data, just like Net Navis…"

"So while we're in the Cyber World… We don't feel hunger or thirst. At all. So your ploy is pointless."

"Damn it all!"

"Admit it. You're not Void. You're Takeda or whatever your name is. You're playing a game to make us believe Void survived destruction. You want us to panic." Ruthless Vine challenged.

"Yeah. You can't fool the Prince. He saw through your plot days ago anyway." Fighting Cyclone added.

"Grrrr! I AM Void! Supreme! Masterpiece! Ultimate!"

"Then why not change your name to, say… Jupiter?"

"He's the big boss of the Greek gods, no? And the biggest planet in our Solar System too!"

"Void only means you're hollow. That you're but a puppet without a real will but just a pitiful puppet… Pinocchio is way more "human" than you."

"Shut… up! Die! Eat thought radio waves! Hah!"

The "skull" roared but nothing else happened so they both walked past it and ignored it altogether; the skull hissed and began to chase them down a corridor of the maze.

"Damn it! You already devised countermeasures?"

"There was no need to. That "weapon" is but in your distorted imagination. It doesn't actually exist." Ruthless Vine shot back.

"Yeah. No time to stick around with some senile gramps."

"Whatever! You'll wander this maze forever!"

"Oh no. We're just looking around to see if you hid cigars."

"Filled with opium, that is."

"HUH? Why would I hide cigars filled with opium in the Cyber World to begin with?" Void growled.

"Dunno. Your setup reminded us of the "cursed" tomb of Pharaoh Kish-Oshk and the cigars hiding opium in them."

They both reached a clearing filled with 3D sprites of brown gorillas which looked they were about to attack them.

"OK. Tornado Fists!"

"Earthly Roots!"

Fighting Cyclone rushed forward as wind coiled around his fists and then projected two horizontal tornadoes that pushed back a couple of the gorillas; Ruthless Vine on the other hand created thick roots that sprouted from the ground as wrapped around the gorillas, trapping them; he then made yellow flowers sprout and they spread a yellow powder, subduing the gorillas; both quickly ran past the clearing just as an explosion opened a hole in the ceiling and the rescue team of Sandra, Freeze Man, Shade Man and the others dropped in.

"Sheesh! More interlopers! Damn it! This isn't over yet!"

"Fled, huh?" Shade Man smirked.

"Mere pests." Freeze Man shrugged.

"You guys OK?" Sandra asked them.

"Yeah. Guy's plan was faulty to begin with…" Fighting Cyclone shrugged.

"I still feel like it's a farce to begin with." Ruthless Vine warned.

"Yeah. Too flashy, too convenient… It's all red herrings and smokescreens to hide someone else's plotting…" Ikada summarized.

"The issue is who the real plotter is… Hopefully it's not something in the scales of the crises of several years ago!"

_I've got a bad feeling about this… Let's go with Cyclone to report._

_Hopefully we get a lead soon else… We're not getting anywhere!_


	5. Chapter 5: Troublemakers

**Chapter 5: Troublemakers**

18:03 PM (Japan Time), Wednesday April 12th…

"… Alright, Wolf, my chap… What do you feel?"

"Hmmm… Corvus, my fella… This reeks of an ambush."

"Yeah. This place is too quiet. I did suspect the mail saying there was a bargain sale was a lie but… They didn't even bother to make it look like there was something going on…"

"Yeah, I know… You'd think there'd be a fake crowd and all but no, there's nothing… They were being LAZY!"

"Lazy! ME!"

"Speak of the devil…"

"They wear purple."

"Wha~t?"

"Evil Corvus tell you to join GW in the electronics scrapyard."

Evil Corvus had a small diamond-shaped purple piece of armor directly over his head, on his helmet's topmost spot, to shield it despite the rear of it being open and unprotected.

The dominant color here was a shade of metallic-like gray coloring plus two small parallel lines, which looked like a reclined seat symbol when seen from the profile, starting on the forehead's armor lower edge and reaching until the end of the helmet's length.

He had two large wing-like extensions popping out of both sides of the head: a pair of transparent reddish shades protected his eyes.

The chest armor's centermost spot contained the Alphabet initials "EC" painted in blood red color there.

The armor included a partial ring around the base of the neck to shield it and a thin orange stripe signaling the border between the neck's base and the start of the armor.

The frontal plate protruded out of it while forming a shape reminiscent of a hexagon yet slightly different at the same time.

The shoulders' armor included orange stripes, which got thinner as they headed for the outer edges and two extensions aiming downwards like triangles protecting part of the arms: two small wing-like triangles originated on the eastern and western sides of the shoulders' armor and extended in a diagonal angle.

The forearms and boots design was a total copy of that of the other "Shunoros" members colored on his own shade of gray coloring and having metallic soils on the boots.

"And Venomous Wolf says Skynet is gonna turn ya into a soup of bits and bytes for getting on its way!"

Venomous Wolf, was about Raito's height: his helmet's color was a shade of green which looked closer to blue: the helmet was already rather reminiscent of a wolf with two small ear-like extensions popping out from the top and aiming upwards in a 45º angle.

Just below those, there were two small curved orange stripes, which looked like pupils: the round plain ear-pads had two small teal brown-colored paws emerging from the left side of them and forming a shape reminiscent of a crab's pincers.

A couple of larger paws aimed backwards popping from the NW and NE edges.

The forehead also had a white metallic triangle, which could be the jaw: transparent greenish shades covered the eyes the eyes of which were crimson red.

His shoulders were plain with a small circling brown band where the forearms emerged and two large paws popping out of the outer edges while curving like a shark's fins.

The chest armor included the initials "VW" written in an orange color: other details were the two small squares of that same orange color set on the SW and SE corners of the armor.

The forearms' armor (starting around the elbow and past the exposed segment of arm covered by green "skin") only had a small ramp aiming past the armor and emerging from close to the upper edge: the forearms were green and the hands were covered in green "skin".

His boots were also simple in design: they just had a trapeze-shaped piece of armor set vertically over the knees and one small triangle-like piece close to the star of the toes, which had two small openings.

These opening looked like they could vent off heat building up inside of the boots: the soils were plain metallic gray.

"I know you're always up to something!" Void growled.

"Yeah. But at least we don't bother others!" Evil Corvus shrugged.

"Which ya do, _Danna_." Venomous Wolf smirked.

"Sheesh!"

"I thought of a meme! "I used to be a gorilla in my past life… That was fun… What was your past life?"…" Evil Corvus laughed.

"Gorilla!" Void growled again.

"Yeah. We heard about your lame "ambush" of the other day."

"Hmpf. Gorilla Man envious of Guts Man." Kuroban snickered over the radio all of a sudden.

"P-Prince! Y-you were hearing, sir?" Evil Corvus gasped.

"What the hell is a "Guts Man"?" Void growled.

"Really? You didn't even bother to look it up?" Venomous Wolf sighed.

"Lazier than the Territorial Barbarossa and the Immobile Gonzalez. They will show you what a gorilla really is about." Kuroban snickered again.

"When did the _Danna_ become a _Xenoblade_ fan…?" Venomous Wolf asked Evil Corvus in a whisper.

"Dunno… It was probably a game suggestion by Gray…"

"Did you say something?"

"N-no, sir!"

"I will wipe you out!"

"Try it. Scrap cheaper than a Machine God Soldier… Let the Titan Stamp crush you and traumatize you." Kuroban was getting amused.

"Oh boy." Both muttered as they rolled their eyes.

"Grrrr! I've had enough! Go, my invincible generals!"

"CLOUD MAN-SAMA HAS ARRIVED!"

"What, an army of mass-produced black-colored Cloud Men?"

"Sheesh. You haven't improved at all. But we weren't expecting to you to improve to begin with, so…"

An army of black-colored Cloud Man units appeared out of nowhere, surrounded by a black, thick fog; they all raised their arms upwards in unison and yelled at the same time; the two fighters weren't impressed in the least with the poor stunt.

"Let's go! Evil Feathers!"

"Auu~h! Poison Swing!"

Evil Corvus flew upwards and spread his wings to shoot feather-shaped daggers which flew and stabbed into the bodies of the several of the enemies to then detonate and momentarily stun them: Venomous Wolf leapt into the air as his claws turned purple and he slashed the torso of three lined up enemies horizontally by swinging each claw right and left: purple-colored scars remained and the enemies flinched: they suddenly groaned as they seemed to be in pain before they dropped to the ground out of energies and were deleted.

"Impossible!" Void growled.

"Not at all. They're cheap mass copies with only 100 HP."

"And factory settings in terms of ATK, DEF, AGI and so on."

"That's what happens when you try to do a "tied" play without doing your research and preparations." Kuroban smirked.

"What the hell?"

"Too _subtle_ for that small CPU of yours? Mumukah would've made scrap out of you already by now."

"Who's that? Another underling? I'll kill them too!"

"You will try. You will fail. Neophyte come out of the training halls and believing himself invincible." Kuroban taunted next.

The two fighters rolled their eyes again as they kept on beating the foes but more spawned whenever a few of them were beaten.

"It's the endless struggle!" Void laughed

"I wonder about that." A familiar voice argued back.

A loud, sharp whistle rang out in the area and both fighters had to momentarily shut down their audio input systems as the copies began to vibrate and quickly broke apart into data simultaneously: the fog dispersed to reveal a crack in the air that seemed to led somewhere: the crack vibrated as well and deleted as well while a howl rang out from a radio channel somewhere but it was quickly shut down: Refraction suddenly became visible; his expression was calm and collected and he had aimed both hands forward, but now he lowered them.

"Excellent timing as always, Refraction." Kuroban thanked him

"It is an honor, my lord." He bowed.

"That human howl… I knew it, there's a human operating this farce from somewhere in the real world…" Evil Corvus muttered.

"Which means that Void didn't actually survive back then. It's all an illusion the true culprit has staged to keep us busy."

"Hmpf. Mere mice. Sooner or later they'll make a mistake, and then…"

Kuroban chuckled and both fighters gulped: his moods were queer…

20:28 PM (Japan Time)

"… Talk about a rare chance to have an offline meeting that's not onboard _Purgatory_, Joel Agoras-kun."

"Oh yes, Suzuki Martha-san. Thank you for inviting me over to your apartment. I hope I am not intruding."

"Why would you? You suggested this encounter."

"Ah, yes. Excuse me. I am a bit tense."

"No wonder."

A young man and a girl were talking while sitting opposite each other in chairs with a table between them, located in the small living room of an apartment somewhere.

The young man, Joel Agoras, appealed to be close to 20 years of age and having a height of about meter and eighty centimeters.

His hair's color was a bright brown one and it was rather messy and forming flocks there and there while a pair of reading glasses hid his eyes.

His choice of clothing happened to be a white shirt with a collar having four buttons on it plus a teal brown coat over it, which was open in the middle: he finished the set with a pair of grayish wool pants and simplistic brown shoes.

"Victor and Akemi are chatting inside of the PC's cyber world. I shut off the screen to allow them some privacy, of course."

This girl, Suzuki, appealed to be in her late teens and had long brown hair reaching past her shoulders and up until the waist: her eyes' irises were brown too and she had a good profile.

She wore a simple black long-sleeved shirt with the text "I love Kyoto" drawn into it, an open teal brown jumper, jeans and white socks plus a pair of white sneakers.

She was glancing behind her at a nearby desk next to the sofa and the TV, which had an open laptop atop it, as well as two facedown PETs.

"Sorry for the sudden call, but, lately… I've felt like… Well, that we could be similar in nature… We're pretty solitary, aren't we?" Suzuki tried to break the ice.

"Is that so? Well… Yes, to tell the truth… I've also felt like that from time to time. We both have our Net Navi partners and our co-workers; I guess we could say… I have my college classmates too and some old classmates from high school… Like everyone else… Yet… it's hard to find someone who'll have patience to listen to you when you have doubts and so… President Hades and Mr. Baron, his colleague, help a lot in that yet one would rather wish to… Disclose these things with someone of their generation? I'm not sure if I'm expressing myself well enough. I apologize if I take forever to get to the point." He slowly began to expose his worries, and sighed.

"Yes, I understand the feeling. While you have online friends, with whom you share hobbies and all… It's always better to have someone physically there… And don't worry, I'm not intending to start a relationship. It's just a meeting between… coworkers."

"Of course. I had no such intention either to impose anything. I apologize if I came out as blunt."

"By the way, could you remember me? What was that "Dullahan" freak of some years ago about?"

"Oh, Dullahan? That was but a robot built in the image of the myth… Or, rather, a videogame's hidden boss named like that…" He explained.

"Ah. I knew it, there had to be some trick to that… I guess it was explained back on its day but I forgot with all the incidents and all that came afterwards… Obviously enough… Monsters DON'T exist."

"No wonder. It was designed in that way to catch the attention and cause fear and confusion as part of a smokescreen… Its role expired hence why it was barely mentioned afterwards."

"I see. Thanks for clearing that up."

"No problem. My specialty is information gathering, after all."

"Oh, yes. By the way, what's your take on the current string of incidents? Is it indeed a smokescreen?"

"Undoubtedly. Solid evidence was earnt today when the culprit challenged two Shunoros members… The use of a loud pitch to delete the foes caused the real world culprit to howl; the pitch was too much for a human to handle… That proved that the culprit was operating the pawns from the real world."

"I see. So at least we've established that much. I guess that means that that "Takeda" Navi and the Seraphs agent that was under investigation are red herrings as well?" Suzuki deduced.

"It's highly probable. I have a hunch that the culprit is the prideful type that wants to prove they needn't rely on others to achieve their purposes… Whatever they might be."

"Cliché."

"Truly."

"The typical "lone wolf criminal", huh? Who thinks they're better than anyone else out there and it's only through crime that they can prove their brilliance…" Suzuki wasn't surprised.

"The very same." Agoras calmly nodded.

"By the way… Have you noticed or felt like someone's trailing you as of late? I and Akemi are constantly on the lookout but insofar we've haven't found proof of that…" Suzuki whispered.

"What a coincidence. The other day Victor and I were discussing that. I wouldn't be surprised if the culprit somehow got access to classified information about our identities… Or they have connections to some insiders or "sleepers"…" Agoras whispered back.

"I also checked the whole house and its surroundings for possible bugs or hidden cameras but found nothing here or in my workspace or in the parking where I park my bike…"

"Same. I checked my classroom in the college too."

"Maybe it's a side-effect of this string of incidents? Making us feel paranoid and unsafe?"

"Wouldn't surprise me if it were to be the case…"

Two beeps rang out from the PETs and both quickly stood up and rushed over to the PC: Suzuki unlocked it and opened a window showing feed of the Cyber World: the camera was placed to some distance allowing them to see a couple of Navis aiming Vulcan and High Cannon Battle Chips at something off-screen.

"Here's Akemi. We've got company."

Akemi's main body color was teal brown accompanied by greenish irregular stains across her bodysuit.

Her helmet had the drawing of a flower on the forehead and her eyes' irises were green emerald: her face was smooth and slightly attractive when seen from a profile.

Her forearms and boots had three consecutive greenish rings drawn across them: each ring had some small yellowish stains scattered inside of them at random.

Some greenish hair flowed out from behind her helmet and reached until the shoulders.

"Here's Victor. By Dixie! We've got company!"

Victor's helmet's surface was covered in a grid of brown tiles separated by black lines and columns.

A yellowish jewel had been set on the center of the forehead: the ear-pads had his initial, the Alphabet "V" letter colored golden, drawn there.

Blue transparent shades were installed over his eyes the irises of which were brown.

His main body had that same pattern printed over it and his chest emblem's edge was colored red, green and blue in different percentages while the golden "V" was set against a white background.

His shoulders had eight-pointed stars drawn over them colored red, green and blue at random while his arms also had the grid pattern printed over their skin: the forearms were colored navy blue with dusty brown bands circling around their length.

The legs kept on using the grid pattern over it and the boots happened to have the Alphabet initials "RGB" with each letter printed on their corresponding color, set over them.

He looked like a combination of the three basic colors and a brown grid.

"There's no place to hide anymore!" Void roared off-screen.

"So we were right. We were being followed and monitored." Suzuki muttered.

"Or maybe that's what they want us to think. Remember, I did bring up the possibility of the culprit having a spy in the Net Police who had access to our info at some point in time… Could've been years ago."

"Good point. Shadow Nova did steal a classified report of some years ago about something, too…"

"I see it all!" Void gloated.

"Including your doom?" Victor shot back, unimpressed.

"Where Morgoth becomes as tall as a mountain and crushes you like the ant that you are?" Akemi sneered.

"Who the hell? More underlings?" Void growled.

"Why do you need to assume all names refer to underlings? Do you have an "underling complex"? By Moran!" Victor sneered next.

"Why, you…!"

"Repetitive and meaningless. Go learn from Sheldon Cooper how to be a funny character." Akemi taunted.

"Damn! How many underlings intend to get in my way?"

"Nobody said anything about underlings. You're assuming things."

"Sheesh! You are but weaklings… I can prove that my trump card is indeed grand and supreme! As expected of the guidance of the Great Lord!" Void began to gloat.

A crack suddenly formed into the air and the thick black fog began to spread as the crack widened and allowed them to see what looked like a barren wasteland surrounded by blackened skies: countless yellow eyes glowed within the darkness as if hinting at untold horrors lurking within them: both were hardly impressed as they shot their weapons towards it and some groans plus explosions rang out.

"That wasn't in the plan!" Void growled.

"Did you think we'd be sitting ducks and wait for that fog thing to take effect?" Akemi rolled her eyes, exasperated.

"Your VFX are so bad, you should go learn from _The Avengers_ movie. But I guess Iron Man and Captain America and the others will beat you to an inch of your life before handing you over to Nick Fury and closing you up in some forgotten hole out there." Victor taunted.

"All you're doing is opening the "dark world" where the "Darkloids" originated from, years ago… You took profit that, over time, the effects of Colonel's "Giga Freeze" had weakened to try to unleash its power again but since most of it has been locked down and quarantined, that's the best you can do… That fog is supposed to take over Navis and make them into your pawns, but… We developed countermeasures already." Agoras calmly exposed as he grinned and his glasses reflected white light.

"Wha~t? Impossible!"

"It's but a program. You can analyze it and make countermeasures. It's not the "dark side of the force"." Suzuki added with a shrug.

"And what we're beating up before they can come out is… The same Cloud Man copies you unleashed a while ago. You don't know how to improve at all, do you? Sheesh. What a lazy grunt." Akemi sighed.

"Which are cheaper than a snack at a 7-11 chain store to begin with. So go play _solitaire spider_ and leave us alone, Mr. Anon."

"Anon? Who's that? Yet another underling?" Void roared.

"Anon is short for "anonymous". Get on with the times. Grandpa." Suzuki taunted next.

"Grandpa! Me! I'm only on my 40s, and I'll teach you to…! Ah!" Void began to ramble before realizing he'd been baited.

"See? One simply lays out the bait and the fish is reeled… Into the net. All that's left is to pull it up… How was it like…? Oh, yes… "I've cast my net and I have my fish. But I have not got the stone. What is the use of taking them? We can make the world a better place by laying them by the heels. "… From _The Mazarin Stone_… You'd go a good Count Sylvius, my fellow." Agoras quoted as he calmly cleansed his glasses with a handkerchief.

"Grrrrrrr!" The culprit growled.

"… "And this Count Sylvius is one of your fish?"… "Yes, and he's a shark. He bites. The other is Sam Merton, the boxer."… I shall skip some lines… "Sam's not a shark. He is a big great silly bull-headed gudgeon. But he is flopping in my net all the same."…"

"Merton…? Where did I…? Oh, but of course! That stupid "Uncle Merton" thing that Oda is muttering the whole time…! That's where the name came from! Grrrr!" The culprit grumbled aloud as if he'd forgotten to switch off the mike.

The four of them merely raised an eyebrow as if they were slightly surprised but made no further comment: Agoras cleared his throat and walked a bit closer to the PC.

"… "My friend Watson was with me just now. I told him that I had a shark and a gudgeon in my net; now I am drawing the net and up they come together."…"

"In your case… Your best friend Takeda is the gudgeon." Suzuki grinned.

"Best friend? Takeda? Don't talk nonsense! That's but a role that I made up and…! Damn it! Not again!"

"You underestimated how much we've deduced, Mr. Anon."

"Stop calling me that!"

"Well, but is that not a fact? You are anonymous to all of us. Including your sister who is desperately looking for you, my good sir."

"Sister? Looking for me? I have no siblings!" The culprit grumbled.

"I wonder about that." Agoras clasped his hands behind his body and his grin intensified.

"What are you getting at, you Holmes wannabe?"

"You never know. Ask a lawyer, my good sir."

"Lawyers are uninvolved!"

"You might need one in the future… Although I doubt any would bother to stand up for you given all the evidence that will be listed up by the prosecutor on the day of your trial."

"Threatening me, you damn brat?"

"Oh no. Just predicting your doom. "Fate", the God of destiny, whispered that to me the other day. You are a hindrance to him, too. He wants a battle with your precious "Great Lord". So open the gateway of the void and let the battle between Gods begin."

"What load of crap is that? What that piece of junk said was but a red herring to make it seem like it was but a slab of the chain! I can't believe anyone would take it seriously!"

"Maybe your precious Shadow Nova underlings did." Suzuki suggested as she stroked her hair.

"You mean those equally useless pieces of scrap that Spiral made? Those "unlucky Greeks"? Pffftt! Mere JUNK! What "special unit" and what crap, they were but suicide corps! That stupid robot had very poor skills on how to choose the right people to run an org! They were but mercenaries, it was obvious they were going to spill all they knew if a contractor offered them an even higher pay!" The culprit hissed.

"Blame the piece of junk. Mr. Anon."

"Enough "Anon"! I am… Yes! I am…! Twilight!"

"Oh, is that so?" Nobody was too surprised.

"What's with that dull reaction? I'm the man you've been seeking for years, the criminal mastermind! Twilight!"

"So you do admit you ARE a criminal? That's a first." Agoras mocked.

"Huh? Damn! That didn't come out as intended!"

"Maybe your subconscious is betraying you." Suzuki taunted.

"Oh? So it was you…" A familiar voice rang out with a hint of amusement.

"Who…? Damn it!"

"Ah! Slur-sama!"

Slur flew into the area and today she looked slightly amused: Victor and Akemi saluted as she landed on the ground and extended her right arm towards the crack: a white sphere of energy formed in the air and shot towards inside of the crack: a sudden flash and a shockwave ensued as the crack was deleted and the fog deleted.

"It has been too long. We have to settle the score. I have been waiting for this time… For years… I expected you would eventually emerge again to settle the score." Slur challenged.

"Score? What score?" "Twilight" seemed to frown.

"Still clinging to that woman as the lapdog you are?"

"Woman? Lapdog? What the hell are you talking about?" The culprit was getting confused, too.

"Did you run away from… _him_?"

"Run away? Me? "Him"?"

"If you really are Twilight… You should know what I mean. No use playing the ignorant. Unless you are but a copycat, that is."

There was a tense silence: Slur merely crossed her arms and seemed to wait for the culprit to react while the other four looked at each other with some perplexity, obviously disconcerted by Slur's challenges to the culprit.

"Or are you going to go with the cliché that "I suffered and accident and as a result I do not remember my past"?" Slur challenged next.

"O-of course not!"

"I will ask again, then. Did you settle the score with him, or did you abandon that woman and chase after us? To get back what we took away from you… Your so-called "heir"?"

"None of what you say makes sense!"

"Then you are but a no-one using his name in an attempt to glorify yourself and to throw us into a pointless manhunt across the world. The only ones who really know what kind of a human Twilight was is _the four of us_. No more, no less. _The Sign of Four_." She smirked.

There was another tense silence followed by a burst of static as if indicating that the culprit had run away.

"Fool. Did you think that we never foresaw anyone trying to pull that stunt? You fell for the trap… You cannot run anymore."

"Huh… Excuse me, Slur-sama. I wanted to report something…"

Akemi walked over to her and whispered something to her: she lifted her eyebrows as if being slightly surprised.

"I see. Keep this to you four. Understood?" She commanded.

"Yes, ma'am!" Both saluted.

"Ah yes. Those questions I asked to that man… They were from a character from a story I am reading. I thought it would be fun to confuse him like that… And to make him search for that info in vain, too." She told the others.

_I must admit I made a slip of the tongue, I got caught up in the excitement… But it does not matter… Your end is near, you fool…_


	6. Chapter 6: Old pals

**Chapter 6: Old pals**

07:47 AM (Japan Time), Friday April 14th…

"Heh, heh, heh. Was waitin' for ya, my old chap."

"When did you pick up that dialect, Eisei?"

"Ya never know, Atarasei, ya never know."

"So you called us here because you wanted a Net Battle?"

"Sure thin', by the steamin' rollers. I was pendin' a debut for this season, buddy."

"Sure, sure… Just let's do it already. I don't wanna take up the whole morning, alright?"

"Sure thin', chaps… Let's go, Alexander Middle!"

"Alex! My name's Alex! Will you stop with the Alexander puns?"

A teenager and his Navi pal had walked into a wide room that worked as a small gym to find another teen waiting for them as he sat in a red leather armchair facing the entrance.

"And you bothered to call me out to the hideout where I, Dullahan and Lord Baron lived at, huh?"

"Sure as sure, Atarasei Oscar!"

Atarasei Oscar had jet-black hair but his was a wild flock, which knew no order or pattern and extended until the base of his neck; his eyes irises' were navy blue.

His body was thin, athletic, and had good build to it, which was proof of his apparently continuous exercises.

He sported a navy blue overcoat over a reddish wool jumper, a pair of navy blue jeans tightened with a black leather belt: a pair of thick socks covered his feet and he used black sneakers for footing.

"And Alexander the Xander!"

"What was that? Sheesh."

Alex had a helmet which had a golden-colored "Alpha" drawing set on its forehead: the helmet was colored in an azure color with golden bands circling the ear-pads and the edges of the helmet: some azure hair popped out from behind the helmet and stretched until the base of the neck.

His face was shaped to look like that of a guy on his late teens: his eyes' irises were azure and he had an air of "elegancy" to him.

His chest armor had a silver vest built over its surface which appealed as being a layer of extra armor and which ended at the height of the chest emblem: the emblem had a bronze-colored edge and its inner color was platinum: it contained the "alpha" symbol on its very center.

His shoulders were covered in sturdy black armor from which some yellow-colored lines originated to travel down the arms' length.

His forearm armor only encompassed the forearm and not the elbow to seemingly allow for further movement.

Four red circling bands spiraled around its length and ended at the knuckles of his fingers: both arms' color was navy blue yet the forearms and fingers' choice of color palette was sky blue.

His legs' knee protections had been painted white but they had diamond-colored circles varying in diameter set on them: three circles in total spread from the centermost point of the knee protection.

The boots had three pearl-colored bands circling the upper edge, the ankle, and the start of the toe fingers: their general color kept on being navy blue.

"Heh, heh, heh. Eisei Aaron-sama has come to zap and tap!"

"Your puns are as bad as always." Atarasei sighed.

"No wonder."

"No wonder oh wondering wonderer."

Eisei's irises were blood red and his nose had a slightly sharpened form.

His green hair was totally messy and grew until the base of the neck while having a purple-colored plastic piece forming an arch starting over the ears and extending backwards but which didn't contribute to keep the shape but rather seemed to be an accessory to appeal as "cool" and fashionable.

He was playing tossing a grey Link PET into the air and catching it down as it fell; he stood up and looked around while grinning.

"Good ol' times, weren't those? When I dropped by and you were unsure if you had to treat me as a CO or not!"

"Yeah, I remember." Atarasei shrugged.

"And thanks to this gear you turned into a super soldier!"

"What the hell? I was no super soldier. Don't mix me up with Captain America, will you? In terms of strength, I might be a tad stronger than the usual thanks to my intense gym training but… That's it."

"Are you gonna fight us for real or you only called us to have fun? Will you be so cheery when Prince Kuroban finds out?" Alex rolled his eyes.

"Yikes! _A-aibou_ is uninvolved! He's gone off for a few days to go help XY with some research or something!" Eisei nervously replied.

"Talk about a rare happening. So you mean to say that you exploited a loophole, didn't you? Eisei." Atarasei wasn't impressed.

"Obviously." Alex shrugged.

"Sheesh! It ain't a loophole! It's a chance!"

"That's also making up other names for a loophole."

"Sheesh! I was in a good mood and now I'm getting annoyed! Oscar! Aren't we old pals?" Eisei complained.

"Hmmm… Technically Golden Star and Shunoros are rivals so… Old pals also tend to be rivals… Oh well. If you wanna keep it at that, I don't mind but… Don't start bugging me the whole time either." Atarasei stopped to think about it for a moment.

"Of course not!"

"Fine. Then bring out the gadget and let's get on the move. Are you gonna fight here or in the Cyber World?"

"The latter, of course! I isolated this hideout's Cyber World from the general Internet to make sure that that skull can't come bother us. I also made sure I wasn't being followed! Did you make sure of it as well?" He defended himself.

"Of course I did. Boss ordered us to be on the lookout. Insofar the culprit has been quiet since a couple days ago but you never know what they're plotting in the meanwhile." Atarasei shrugged.

"OK! Then let's do it! _Denpa-Henkan_! Eisei Aaron, On Air!"

Eisei lifted his right arm as the PET began to glow and turn into a sphere of grey energy which began to expand; energy streams began to form around his body and cover it as they changed their shape to match his body's height and width; the "hole with ripples" formed behind him and he stepped into it as Alex headed over to a wireless router and then de-materialized; Atarasei calmly sat down in the armchair as he drew his PET and opened the communications window to see a 3rd person view of Alex from behind his shoulders.

"Ta-dan! Gray Thunderbolt, on the scene!"

"About time."

Gray Thunderbolt had a largely customized design, which deviated from the norm the others followed.

His face's skin color was of a dull olive green – like coloring and a faint black and thin line drawing of an electrical current's spectrum shaped as if a triangle formed on the SW and SE corners of his face and climbed past the note until they ended slightly beneath the forehead's helmet edge.

His eyes' irises were blood red in color.

His hair was orange-colored and spread out from behind the helmet in a wild flock manner reaching until the base of his neck.

The helmet's design was peculiar: it had a form seemingly made out of a spheroid's upper half and its main color was gray.

The center of it had a drawing which could be interpreted as an arrow pointing downwards which also had two small triangles popping out of the sides: if seen from above and looking from north to south it could be a cutaway silhouette of a tree as well: a golden-colored plain horn formed on the middle of the drawing and aimed upwards.

The ear-pads had two parts: they began as simple gray metallic disks attached halfway between the upper helmet and the sides of the rest of the helmet.

A dome-shaped formation sprouted from there and had a small hole cut atop it.

The sides of the helmet included two slightly curved triangles colored orange spanning past the lower jaw by a few centimeters.

His neck was protected by circular gray bands stacked one atop the other with a total of three plus a wider circle at the base of the neck.

Regarding the chest armor, it could be described as simplistic: the color of choice was gray again and the only noticeable things on it were two cavities cut on the center of it shaped after diamonds: they were red on the inside and there was a very thin black line cutting through them spanning halfway across the chest.

His arms were covered by a peculiar golden armor, which seemed to reinforce their strength: each shoulder had a soup bowl shape along with the cover set over it: a golden horn spread from the center of the cover.

The armor went on with a slight division drawn near the arm, between the shoulder and the elbow: the elbow segment happened to have a circular piece from which a curved fin aiming towards the shoulder emerged: this elbow armor could be divided in four different segments: the first one was a little piece of golden armor in the form of a circle's lower half.

The armor was continued by a set of three half-circular metallic bands that were spreading downwards until the start of the wrist.

A screw bolt's head was set halfway between the lower and upper halves of the elbow armor: a black cross was drawn on it (or rather the grooves where a screw driver would be set at) and a straight black line travelled forward from the eastern edge until the wrist.

The last part of the complicated elbow armor included the aforementioned fin.

A small segment of golden armor covered the little space between the elbow and the wrist.

The wrist and part of the hand were encompassed by one featureless metallic black circle from which his usual five fingers (covered in golden "skin") came out.

The body below the chest armor was rather plain: a central vertical stripe which contained the helmet's pattern towards the end as it reached the waist spot: it was painted gray expect on the outer edges where the color switched to purple and ran down the sides of the body including the inner surface of the legs: the outer surface was colored gray too.

His peculiar boots began just at the knee's height and had a customized design, which looked like some attempt at being "futuristic" for some reason or another: their color was gray.

The reason why his boots looked peculiar was because they had a descending triangle-shaped ramp running until the ankles and with three golden buttons set in a vertical manner one atop the other near the end of the piece.

The ankles' armor was built in the manner of three purple trapezes set one over the other: the soil of the boots was also designed to have a trapeze form and painted gray.

There was something which looked a recent addition, though, and that was an emblem on the forehead: gray-colored spheroid of energy with thunderbolts emerging from it and aiming for all eight cardinal directions: its rim was painted in a black color as well.

"Heh, heh, heh. Let's rock! _Mass Destruction_, from _Persona 3_!"

"Charmed." Both drily replied.

A music track began to ring out in the background as Gray Thunderbolt drew two Elect Swords frizzling with electricity and rushed for Alex who had already drawn Bamboo Swords glowing with a green aura: they clashed and struggled in the deadlock before they jumped away from each other: Gray Thunderbolt cancelled his swords and fused his fingers as electricity began to spiral around his arms: he suddenly aimed them forward and several bolts of lightning jumped off them towards Alex but he simply burrowed a hole in the ground and avoided the attack entirely: Gray Thunderbolt hadn't wasted time and he was already using the jets on his boots' soils to fly upwards as he tossed a Count Bomb Battle Chip towards the hole Alex was in and quickly turned around as he drew the Elec Sword again to dodge an attack by Alex who'd appeared behind him and was trying to hit him with his Bamboo Sword.

"Crafty! This is what makes it fun!" Gray Thunderbolt chuckled.

"Sure." Alex shrugged.

"This was but the heatin' up, buddy… Things are gonna get very zappin' and paralyzin'…" He began to speak in his dialect imitation again.

"Oh, sure. Like that dialect helps." Atarasei sighed.

"So? How's it goin' with the hound of Densan-ville?" Gray Thunderbolt blinked an eye.

"None of your business." Atarasei grumbled.

"I see, I see. Very smoothly indeed! As expected of hounds: they mate together indeed!" He laughed.

"Do you need to know that to survive?" Alex sighed.

"You never know!"

"We know you don't. End of the story."

"And start of the epilogue!"

"How devious of you."

"Let's go! Gray Thunder! Max power!"

"Already? How impatient, man."

Alex warped away as Gray Thunderbolt summoned a gray spheroid of energy that erratically flew around the area while dropping bolts of lightning at random: Gray Thunderbolt looked around and spotted Alex standing ready inside of a roofed concrete storehouse: Gray Thunderbolt launched a Quake Battle Chip there and quickly turned around to stop the incoming dash attack by Alex by kicking him with the left foot in the waist: Alex grumbled and jumped backwards to put distance while a Mettool shield hovered drawing an orbit above him and intercepting the bolts that fell down; Gray Thunderbolt smirked again and formed a jetpack on his back to shoot forward at a high speed: Alex punched the ground with both closed fists to make a concrete wall appear but Gray Thunderbolt simply corrected his trajectory by tilting his body backwards and thus shooting upwards diagonally while dropping down another Quake Virus where Alex was at but Alex had already moved out and was using a jetpack as well to fly upwards and had readied a "Kogarashi" (Cold Wintry Wind) Battle Chip which he turned on to shoot the wind and leaves at Gray Thunderbolt who blocked it partially by crossing his arms: he changed his angle again and speeded up the jetpack to head-thrust Alex's torso; the heavy blow did push him away some distance into a tall concrete wall where he crashed in, crushing his jetpack and falling down: he managed to use an Area Steal to warp and land into the ground without taking damage just as his shield intercepted another lightning bolt: Gray Thunderbolt smirked as he looked down on him (literally) from above.

"Did you think I wouldn't train to build up resistance to wooden elemental attacks? You should've learn more from Needle Man of the B-V-N club! Heh, heh, heh!" He challenged.

"Sheesh." Alex grumbled.

"Huff! I'm already covered in sweat even though there's no heater turned on or anything like that!" Atarasei complained.

"Then show us your excellent body, fella."

"Yeah, sure. Like I would. I don't want to."

"Oh yeah? Your muscles are nothing compared to Qong?"

"None of your damned business, Eisei! Do I ever poke about your privacy or the S&M games you, Sieg, Urateido and his cousin play together? I don't, right?" Atarasei fumed.

"Ah! As expected. You already figured out as much. Good, good. You know the deal, you're welcome anytime. Sieg's a great masochist but maybe you can show him how to be a tough one?" He laughed.

"Sheesh. None. Of. Your. Business!"

"Aren't we BATTLING?" Alex reminded him, sighing.

"This is also a battle! A psychological battle, my chum!"

"Loopholes." Both grumbled.

"Yessss… We want loopholesss… Not potatoessss… Give us the fisssh… My precioussss…"

"Imitating Gollum next? Why didn't you join in for being a voice actor if you're so good at it, huh?" Atarasei sighed.

"Maybe I'll eventually do! Under the artistic name of… Golden Mars! How's that one like?" He laughed.

"_How brilliant_." Both drily muttered.

"Or better yet! Mars Warriors! Who sends messages to the aliens and teams up with a warrior from the Moon to produce a 10-hour long _extravaganza_ that drives greedy types mad!" He laughed.

"If you have so many ideas, why not write up a fanfic using those? Instead of using them to make a fool of yourself." Atarasei sighed.

"Yeah. I feel like we could be doing a billion far more productive things that sticking around with a troll who never learns the lesson."

"Yeah, be careful! I'm a troll of the caverns! My wooden club will squish all pineapples! Let's go! Bring out the turtle-head!"

"Oh come on." Atarasei groaned.

"Ah! We have a _connoisseur_ over there! Splendid, _Marquis_ Atarasei! Now show me the entrance to your domains!"

"What domains? I'm not a nobleman or anything. You're gonna tell me you've been watching _Downton Abbey_?"

"I've heard about it from a couple of the pal but, no, I ain't seen it yet! I've been too busy seeing our pal Dr. Cooper and his brilliant acidity when dealing with his buddies!" He sneered

"_Big Bang Theory_, huh? Sure, sure."

"OK! Enough chit-chat. Let's resume the show! Here I come! Gray Thunder Meteor!"

"What the hell?"

Gray Thunderbolt smirked as he recalled the sphere of energy and made four golden rings with spikes on the outer edge form around it, intercrossing and covering all eight directions: bolts of lightning jumped off the gaps and coiled around the spikes as the sphere flew upwards and then began to shoot towards the ground as if it was a meteor while shooting countless thin bolts of lightning around the area at random yet they covered a lot of terrain at once leaving almost no spot untouched: Alex grimaced and triggered a green aura around him as well as a "Dream Aura" and a lot of shields to protect him from all sides as he opened a hole into the ground and burrowed inside: the meteor was speeding up and the bolts were growing thicker, their impact in the ground opening miniature craters on their wake: it finally hit the ground where the shields were stocked up and the blow sent all of them flying, deformed, while a shockwave of lightning scattered across a very wide radius of the floor: Gray Thunderbolt laughed as he absorbed the energy and formed a yellow aura around him: Alex yelped as he hit it in his attempt to tackle him from behind using a Guts Punch: the energy coiled around the punch and travelled towards Alex, electrocuting him.

"Guwaaahhhhh!"

"ALEX!"

"This is my power, guys! You've looked down on me too often! It was about time I proved that I AM the No. 2 of Shunoros!" He laughed.

"More like the No. 2 in being an idiot."

"Huh? AIBOU! Why the heck are you here?"

"It'd seem YOU need a lesson! Come at me, raging lightning! I command you! And now… Dissolve into the land!"

"Prince Kuroban!"

Someone had suddenly appeared mid-air behind Gray Thunderbolt, who panicked as he turned around to face the newcomer.

Kuroban's helmet design was compact and thick: it included silver plating around the neck and its base, a main purple and black coloring, black shades and a green symbol which looked like a unicursal hexagram colored pale green and having some unknown runes written on its circular edge painted on the forehead.

He wore some curious armor over his body: it was colored with purple tones on the outer edges but black on the center: the same forehead emblem was set on the middle of his chest.

His shoulders were black ellipsoids with purple outer edges and green fluorescent runic symbols drawn over them: his arms "skin" was black.

The armor over the forearms had an external golden rim from which three parallel golden lines extended until the fingertips.

The feet armor started at the knees and used a tint of purple for the outer edges but the main armor kept on using the black motif: silver-colored lines extended parallel to each other until the feet fingertips.

The unarmored body "skin" was also black in color and had intricate green fluorescent patterns running down its sides, front and rear.

He'd extended his right fist to channel all lightning towards it and then shot it downwards to the ground to dispel it.

"Ugh… Kuh…! Gah…!"

"What the hell! That wasn't the amount of damage I'd estimated in the simulations!"

Alex warped to the ground and collapsed on his fours, with several pieces of his body missing of half-deleted: Gray Thunderbolt gasped in horror while Kuroban was crossing his arms.

"Ah, no? I hope you weren't subconsciously thinking of deleting him! Were you, Gray?" Kuroban growled.

"No! I swear! No!" He panicked.

"Then explain this!"

"I don't understand! I did tons of simulations to calibrate the level of damage! Of course, I expected him to dodge the meteor! What I outputted was but a 20th of all the power I'd built in! And no, the Guts Punch isn't super-conductive either!" He tried to justify.

"Hey, wait a min! What are these radar signatures? They weren't here a moment ago!" Atarasei suddenly gasped.

"Radar signatures? What… By the High One!"

"What the… Oh, shit! What the hell are those things doing here?"

"GRRRR… GRAWL!"

"Isn't that… Mass copies of… Cybeast Greiga?"

"Sure they are! Now I understand!"

Mass copies of the fearsome Cybeast Greiga had appeared unexpectedly and had surrounded the area; their "crowns" were sparkling with electricity and they looked ready to attack.

"These things were hidden behind a fake background and they were actually providing you with more power! To make it look like you were actually intending to delete Alex!" Kuroban hissed.

"But XY wouldn't do this, no?"

"Of course not! This is the culprit's handiwork! Maybe when Spiral took out "those three" from the Cybeast domain he was given some data to use as basis if they needed to recreate the shape of the Cybeasts… Although as a very weak copy, that is!" Kuroban deduced.

"Oh shit. What do we do?" Gray Thunderbolt nervously asked.

"Deal with them before they can be unleashed into the Internet!" He fumed.

"Damn it. So the culprit predicted I'd want to have a match with the guys here and prepared this trap in advance? I'm afraid we underestimated the jerk's brains."

"I'll have to agree with you on that one. We thought they could only bark and do stupid farces but turns out we're the ones who got fooled by that smokescreen! Anyway! Come! Aristeros Shield! Dexia Sword!"

A white shield with an odd drawing on the center of its body followed by a blade colored white, having a golden hilt, the same emblem on the hilt's center formed out of nowhere, and he gripped it with the right hand while the left hand held the shield on place.

"Atarasei! Retrieve Alex at once and go ask for reinforcements! Tell them to bring counter-measures to electrical attacks and powerful Program Advances!" Kuroban ordered.

"Roger, sir! Plug Out!"

Atarasei shut down his window as he ran out of the room through a corridor but he had to suddenly jump backwards to avoid a giant sword that cut the air where he'd been at a second ago: his face turned white from the shock as he recoiled: a gigantic shape was walking towards him while making heavy footsteps and mechanical sounds.

"T-that's impossible…! Dullahan…!"

"Dullahan" was about three meters tall and wore a metallic purple armor like the European medieval knights: a torn reddish cape hung from its shoulders as bonus.

The armor had yellow and white markings to it yet the most disturbing part was that it was _headless_.

It was gripping a ridiculously huge white-colored blade on the right hand, which it was aiming for Atarasei.

"Ridiculous! It's stored at our base and it hasn't been used for a long time! There's some of my men at the base keeping watch! And I didn't design a sword for it, either!" Kuroban gasped through the PET's speaker amongst the roars of the beasts.

"It's probably a recreation by the culprit! Damn it!"

"Shit! What do we do?" Atarasei growled.

"Gray! Materialize and deal with that thing! Use the "Boundary" and trap it inside to stall! Don't count on your electrical attacks, I've got the hunch that it's made of materials to block out electricity!"

"R-roger!"

Gray Thunderbolt appeared in the real world and gestured to divert the giant's attention towards him: the giant began to chase him while kicking anything out of its way through its sheer mole and weight; Atarasei sighed in relief and resumed running down the corridor to go through a lobby and then pressed a button in the wall; a piece of it slid to the right and he ran out into a parking; he ran past it too and into the streets where he stopped to catch his breath.

"What the fuck's going on!" He growled.

He put some distance with the building as he quickly dialed a number on his PET.

"Emergency! This is Atarasei! I need reinforcements!"

"What's going on, Oscar-kun?" _Noir_ asked.

"Huff, huff… The old… refuge where I lived at… The Cyber World is filled with copies of Greiga! There's a copy of Dullahan in the real world too! The Prince and Eisei are dealing with them, but…!"

"By all the…! I'll issue a general alert, then! Legato! Hurry over there, ready countermeasures to electricity! GO!"

"Yes, sir! At once, sir!"

"L-looks like the culprit got pissed off and it's finally decided to get serious… Ready to kill too! That damned giant thing almost cut off my head!" He yelled.

"By all the…! The bastard's lost it!"

"Totally!"

"Fortunately we readied some countermeasures… I suspected that maybe one day we'd have to deal with such a situation… Especially since in the past there was already an incident with copies of those…"

"S-sure… Damn it! They turned a place with memories into a trauma! I'm so gonna make the bastard pay for ruining my memories!"

"Of course! The bastard will pay! Undoubtedly! I hope this is a desperate gamble on their part and that we can get closer to them with this…!"

"Warp me back to _Purgatory_! I won't feel safe until I lock myself in my room! I wanna be as far as possible from here!"

"But of course! At once!"

A white cone of light formed on Atarasei's location and his body was covered in a similar light as it quickly vanished alongside with the cone of light; a silhouette looked on from a nearby alley, hidden by the shade.

_Hmpf. Good, good. Feel the fear, the hatred, and the anger! I will use them as food to create a far more powerful ace in the hole! Nevertheless, there's still a lot of info I'm lacking. I hate to admit it but this was indeed a big gamble to make them think I'm going to unleash such a calamity… No, it wouldn't benefit me… It's time to ditch this "role" and make up a new one… But I have the connections needed and the money. It's only a matter of time… In the meanwhile, these smokescreens will keep you busy. I haven't waited YEARS in vain. I will engrave my name in the world's history and people will know to FEAR me! Hmpf! Fear! Fear! FEAR! FEEL THE FEAR!_


	7. Chapter 7: Aloof

**Chapter 7: Aloof**

10:43 AM (Japan Time), Saturday April 13th…

"… How is he like, sir?"

"He's sleeping at last. I had a long talk with him. How about Alex? Is his repairs progressing, Legato?"

"Yes, sir. They're over 92% complete by now. They should be finished by 11 o'clock, sir."

"Make sure to run a detailed scan to make sure there's nothing odd mixed in… Like a Trojan program and other kind of malware… Especially stuff trying to steal personal data or security data…"

"Roger, sir. We shall do so, sir."

"Huff. Lovely morning indeed. Fortunately with the help of Prince Kuroban's newly-developed "sonic weapon", we managed to delete those things by batches…"

_Noir_ walked in a wide bedroom that had a king-sized bed, a set of drawers, a metallic round table with 4 chairs set around it, a laptop atop it and an open folders with some documents; a pencil case with pencils, pens, and markers was placed there as well as an open notebook with annotations written on it.

_Noir_ had lowered his attire's hood to reveal how he had blonde hair and blue irises; he looked about the same age as Kage and, physically, he was very similar to him as well.

Legato was standing near the table in a saluting pose but _Noir_ made a gesture to him and he lowered the arm.

"Yes, sir. It'd seem the culprit discovered the flaw that made them vulnerable to certain sound frequencies and shifted their composition slightly for each batch, forcing us to test a new frequency with each one… It looked like there were a lot more but it was just 13 of them."

"13? Sheesh. Talk about black humor indeed." He grumbled.

"Indeed, sir. I apologize if I exceeded myself."

"Oh, no! You didn't. Don't be so paranoid, Legato."

"Yes, sir. I apologize, sir."

"No need to… Huff! Fine! Have it your way!"

Legato gulped as if he feared being punished: _Noir_ shook his head and rubbed his eyes.

"Forget it. I'm both half-asleep and already exhausted. To top it all we got into a rough discussion. With Oscar-kun, I mean." He groaned as he rubbed his right arm.

"Really, sir? Are you injured, sir?" Legato gasped.

"A bit. I had to ask for Qong-kun to come over and help me administrate him a sedative because otherwise he wasn't being rational. Can't blame him but we had to calm him down before he tried to do something reckless." He sighed as he sat down in one of the chairs.

"Yes, sir. He could've died then. That's something that no-one can process in a rational way, sir." Legato sighed as well.

"Truly. He got a new chance after all the shit he had to go through in the past because of that incompetent moron, had managed to rebuild himself to be someone new and positive, and now this had to come and shatter his mindset. Sheesh. If the culprit wanted us to fight each other he's already achieved that."

"Sadly, sir. But as Slur-sama says, no-one's perfect, sir."

"Indeed! That's an undeniable fact. Our pointless egos make us believe we're perfect. No wonder those "Jet-Black Phoenix" were a failure in the end. They couldn't try to put rationality before ego. Try they did, yeah, but… In the end ego and an eagerness to become invincible and superior was their downfall. Especially _that guy_."

"Truly, sir. From what I've been told, they got a miserable end."

"Fitting for that jerk indeed. Had it coming anyway."

"True, sir."

A buzz rang out and Legato tapped the right side of his helmet.

"This is Zero. Alex's repairs are over 98% complete. We're starting the security scan to make sure no data was stolen from him during the chaos of the battle…" Zero reported.

"Roger that. Who's handling it?"

"Myself. I asked Cosmo Man and Freeze Man to look over the computer's gathering and classifying system in the meanwhile."

"If it's them they'll do a good job. Napalm Man is still shut down and in "quarantine", yeah?"

"But of course. Boss sealed him with a password only she knows only she can "unfreeze" him when the "quarantine" expires."

"Alright. Report to us at once if you find anything odd. Even if it seems a trivial detail. It could be a piece of something larger." _Noir_ ordered.

He'd headed to the wall right of the bed and pushed a panel to make it sink inwards to then slide it to the right; he opened a small door with a handle to reveal a small built-in fridge with water bottles and several types of fruit juice bottles inside as well as Coca-Cola cans; he picked one of the latter and shut the fridge door as well as place the panel back in place; he then crouched to open the door of the auxiliary desk and pick a plastic cup from a stack; he poured the Coca-Cola inside as he walked back to the table and sat on the chair again.

"Of course. We'll leave nothing unturned."

"What about Atarasei, though? Who's keeping an eye on him?"

"Mr. Daikani offered himself. You know both of them are like father and son so if it's someone Oscar-kun will listen to, it's him. He wouldn't attack him either. I did have to brief him in on his "origins" in case he began to recall the past and blame it…"

"Was he very surprised, sir?"

"Unexpectedly enough, no. He'd drawn his own conclusions after digging around for a stolen copy of a report on the incident involving him and Dullahan and which sparked the enmity he was to watch over when they were working for the Seraphs… Or rather for Prince Kuroban. He said nothing to avoid hurting his feelings."

"I see. As expected of him. He leaves no stone unturned either, sir."

"Truly. He's also of great help to President Hades since he has far more life experience and can help him when he hesitates."

"Indeed, sir."

"This is Zero. Scanning progress is over 47% done. As you suspected, we found a Trojan disassembled into many little pieces. We're quarantining them in separate bays to make sure it can't self-assemble by accident. Will delete at once after we've extracted all of them." Zero reported.

"Thought so." _Noir_ shrugged.

"Did you check if they tried accessing his memories too?"

"Of course. There were some attempts but the 7-layer system stopped them before they could get too close."

"As expected of Slur-sama's security systems. They're robust." Legato nodded in agreement.

"Truly. Keep up the good work, Zero. Did you switch off the pain receptors so that Alex won't feel any pain when he wakes up?"

"Affirmative. Did so at the same time we began the repairs."

"Good. There's nothing odd lurking near the "nodes" or the outer firewalls, is there?"

"V-B-N volunteered for patrolling and I allowed them do. They're checking the ground as well to make sure nothing nasty is buried there either. Leave no stones unturned."

"Good. What about Pharaoh Man? Did he report anything odd from the sky or the bay?"

"Insofar, no. Hey, Pharaoh Man. Do you copy? It's me, Zero. Is everything as usual up there?" Zero called out.

"Affirmative. I was going over security footage of the warehouse perimeter cameras and of the nearby storehouses. While making sure there was no alteration on them, too." Pharaoh Man reported.

"Good. But let's not get confident." _Noir_ warned.

"Acknowledged."

"By the way, sir… Do you believe the culprit is still confident enough to remain lurking within the Net Police or…?"

"Nah. Even though we spoke no word aloud about their slip of the tongue of the other day, they probably recorded the happenings and when reviewing them he realized that. He's probably already arranged for a new ID and will make up some cover to explain his disappearance or absence, something that doesn't call for attention… "I caught a cold" or "I had to go to the funeral of a relative" or "A relative is getting married"… The typical reasons people ask for a leave." _Noir_ shrugged.

"True, sir. They might fake a message to justify it as well so no-one will pay much attention to it when it's just another member of the force amongst thousands…" Legato rubbed his chin.

"Hopefully they'll be arrogant enough to then pretend that they went missing… If an officer goes missing during a leave, that's something serious enough for a search request to be expedited."

"Does Chief Sorodo know about the state of things, sir?"

"Of course. President Hades told him and he was secretly doing an internal investigation, drawing a list of candidates… Our only data being "man, 40s"… There's plenty of veteran officers and so in their 40s as well… Dunno how many he listed up insofar."

"Can't be helped, yes. We should be glad to have any data at all, sir. Else we wouldn't know where to start from…"

"Oh yeah. Make no mistake. 1 is always better than 0, of course."

17:27 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Ugh… Guh… The darkness… It swallows me… Ridiculous… I AM the darkness itself! How can those meek bastards overcome me…? That coward…! Your power is no great deal either…! Guh…! Hah!"

Atarasei suddenly rose from the bed he'd been sleeping in after he agitated as if he'd been having a nightmare; he panted while he tried to orient himself; he was wearing navy blue pajamas and his usual clothes were folded and piled up in a chair next to the bed.

This room had a couple of beds, a drawer set on the south wall, an open porthole from which the sounds of sea and seagulls came in as well as a breeze, a work desk to the left of the porthole with a closed laptop placed atop it and a couple of foldable plastic and metal chairs.

"You're awake? Oscar."

"Huh? Ah! Daikani-san!"

"Yes, it's me. Do you feel better?"

"… I'm not sure, sir."

"No wonder."

A voice called out and Atarasei saw a man sitting on a chair to his SW, closed to the bed.

He looked on his 40s and had black hair as well as brown irises; he was shaven as well.

He wore a white shirt, a blue and green stripped tie, brown pants and black shoes.

He was currently crossing his fingers as he looked at Atarasei and was clearly concerned.

"It's already 5 PM?" He asked as he looked at his wristwatch.

"Yes. You were in a panicked state so Kuroshiro-kun and Qong-kun had to sedate you so that you'd calm down."

"… I remember… I got into a fight with Kuroshiro… I mean, _Noir_… I wasn't being rational… How stupid of me. The guy was trying to help me and that's how I thanked it…" Atarasei sighed.

"It couldn't be helped."

"I'm sorry, sir. I'm always shaming you, sir."

"Shaming me? Why? I'm not your CO anymore, as you well know."

"It's just that…"

"Worrying about my reputation? I never cared too much about it. It's one thing I could easily live without." He shrugged.

"… True, sir… I'm sorry, sir… Always failing you…"

"Always? Don't say nonsense, Oscar… You never failed me. You've always conducted your missions excellently."

"… True, sir. I suddenly felt like a failure… Maybe it's a sequel of that bastard's sloppy and lazy programming… Ah! Don't mind it, I was rambling nonsense!" He began to mutter only to gasp and try to rest importance to his words.

"… It's something I've always hesitated about saying because I thought I might spur some inner fears, but… I actually knew who you really are. I've known since we were part of the "Charon Brotherhood"…"

"You knew, sir…? And despite knowing…?" He wasn't too surprised.

"What did you expect? To treat you like some kind of freak? The world and technology is constantly evolving. If this is a glimpse of a future fusion between man and machine, so be it. That's evolution. That's all I considered when I found your info by accident. Afterwards, following Prince Kuroban's advice, I simply treated you like any normal human. Which was his intention from the start." Daikani calmly exposed.

"I see, sir. I am sorry for not saying anything either, but…"

"You felt there was no need to. It's alright. Everyone always has something within them that they don't want to tell others."

"How's Alex like?"

"He was repaired and cleansed of some malware hours ago. I think he's now in a paintball game to have a change of airs. He's been training with some of the Navis as well. He didn't seem to suffer strong sequels from the damage attained either."

"Phew. For a moment I thought he was going to be scarred."

"No wonder. Legato said he'll keep a close eye on him to oversee his evolution and talk to him if something troubles him."

"Understood, sir… What happened in the end?"

"Hmm? Ah. You mean the battle. We brought in reinforcements and the Prince used some new sonic weapons to delete all those lions. As for the robot, Eisei kept it stalled through the use of the "Oreichalcos Boundary" and then the Prince personally cut it to pieces with his blade; it was very frail despite the looks so I guess it was built in a rush and intended to be a one-use throw-away piece of junk." Daikani explained.

"What about the culprit, sir?"

"They've grown wings and fled. Truth to be told, we had a lead as to where they were hiding at and a list of candidates had begun to be drawn given the info we had… However… It's obvious they'll throw away their current job and ID, which is probably fake to begin with, and do something like disappearing in a way that seems natural… Such as getting lost in a forest or something like that… And during the fuss of the search for him, he will assume a new ID and hide somewhere else…"

"I see. That means we were really close…"

"Yes. Very close. Unfortunately, I'm afraid the culprit realized his own slips of the tongue and began preparations to flee. Today's stunt was probably a distraction to buy him time to flee while everyone else was caught up in the commotion." Daikani sighed.

"… Damned cowards… I'm so gonna make them pay…"

"Oscar! Behave yourself!"

"Huh! I'm sorry, sir!"

"I understand the feeling but anger and revenge alone won't do anything. Or do you want to be trapped in that spiral, like that child was?"

"Child? Which child?" He frowned.

"Don't you remember? Iris."

"Oh yeah. Iris. True. She was burning with revenge and didn't dare to think of anything else because outside of revenge, she had nothing to motivate her to go on…" Atarasei recalled.

"Exactly. I'm sure you don't want to end up like her, or be like what you were in the past, someone cruel and sadistic, a distorted version of a child who never wished to harm others… A mockery."

"… You're right, sir. Dullahan made me as a mockery to "that guy" and filled my head with a lot of crap… Because the bastard was already a lazy and useless moron who couldn't do anything by himself. And then spent the time clinging to what had happened as an excuse to try to boycott me when we were in the "brotherhood"…"

"Huff. You needn't remind me. That piece of junk sure drove me up the walls and the Prince had to come scold them heavily."

"True, sir… Oh well. Rambling the whole afternoon won't contribute to anything so I'd rather go have a shower to calm down."

"Good idea. I'll go report to Kuroshiro-kun that you've made a good recovery and tell Alex to drop by as well."

"Thank you for being here, sir… I really needed someone who'd listen to my ramblings and have patience for them, sir…"

"Oh, don't mind it. See you later."

"Alright, sir."

Atarasei climbed off the bed and picked the pile of clothes as he headed for the bathroom to the right side of the room; Daikani opened the door and stepped out of the room.

"Huff."

Atarasei stepped into the small cubicle and closed the door while putting on the lock; he left the clothes over the closed lid of the toilet and looked at his reflection on the mirror while leaning both hands on the rim of the sink; he sighed and opened the faucet to wash himself with cold water and let out a sigh of relief.

"That feels better…"

He then unbuttoned his pajama shirt and hung it in the clothes hanger, followed by the bottoms; he leant his back on the wall as he took out his white silk socks and finally lowered his black boxers to finish undressing; he stretched as if to shake off the laziness and patted his cheeks with his palms.

"Maybe I should ring Ijuuin and ask him when he's free. I wouldn't mind a hot session with the guy… Could help shake off this gloomy mood. Yeah, let's do so. With some luck, he might have free time tomorrow. It's been a while since last time…"

He began to get in a good mood as he stepped into the shower and closed the curtains: he opened the shower and sighed in relief as the hot water began to hit him.

"Nothing like a hot shower to shake off the tension…"

He stopped it and let steam build in the room while he picked the shampoo, poured some on his right hand and then rubbed both before applying it to his messy black hair; he turned the shower again to wash it off and began to hum a tune in the meanwhile.

"Hmmm… Maybe I should ask the guy to spice it up a bit. Yeah, meeting place will be at his apartment. It's more discreet, after all. OK, let's do so…" He distractedly muttered.

He then grabbed the shower gel and poured some on his right hand before rubbing both together and sweeping them across his body to apply the gel over its surface; he resumed humming as he turned on the shower again and washed it off his body…

21:48 PM (Japan Time)…

"… My bad. I had to shake off some wannabe punks who were trying to rob me."

"I see. Sorry for calling you so suddenly, Burai, but…"

"I don't care, Andy and Kage. If it's info on that inglorious bastard who's been annoying you then it's worth coming over."

Andy was talking with Burai, who looked about he was on mid-20s; he was quite tall, and looked serious as he leant his back against a wall and crossed his arms.

The place was a chamber made of stone and with no visible entries or exits, and which was several meters wide and tall.

"Alright. According to a message by Chief Sorodo, he'd drawn up 5 candidates to be the culprit based mostly on age and their merits as well as if they are the type that stands out or doesn't." Kage explained to him over the communications window.

"I see. He was about to close the gap more but the damned mouse ran away, huh? Has he detected who it is?"

"Not yet. Nobody has filed any leaves yet. Which leads us to deduce they will try to fly tonight and maybe set up some distraction to make it look like he went missing on the way home or something like that. He's monitoring all 5 candidates to see how they move. Whichever suddenly packs up and tries to flee will be our culprit." Andy explained.

"I see. Let them swim, make them assume we're still looking and have a large list of candidates, and so he'll get confident."

"Exactly."

"But what if the does the contrary?" Burai suddenly suggested.

"What do you mean?"

"He must be smart enough to realize we're expecting a move. What if he doesn't do anything and tomorrow morning goes back to work?"

"That's… We hadn't thought of that, to be honest."

"I see. Do the contrary of what we expect… Thus denying us the chance to prove which of the candidates it is… When you stop to think about it, it does make sense…" Andy rubbed his chin with the right hand as he thought about it.

"Yeah. Hmmm… Maybe they will continue the pretense for a few more days. Alternatively, maybe he will keep it as long as he can… So that we'll get stuck and unable to narrow it down any further… It would fit the bastard's goals." Burai suggested.

"True, true."

"Do we have any idea of what kind of man we're after? Some former executive of the Seraphs or so? A high-ranked sleeper agent? Or maybe it's just a lone wolf unrelated to all of them?" Burai asked.

"Maybe it's a veteran hacker… Or a veteran officer fed up with his work and who decided to become a hacker to make things "interesting" and maybe wear us out." Kage suggested.

"Hmm… Maybe, yeah. He doesn't necessarily have to be related to the Seraphs or Shadow Nova to know about the piece of junk that "Void" was… If he's been secretly listening into meetings or reading reports before they are archived…" Andy reflected.

"Good points as well. No use speculating without factual data. But I think this one's rotten to the core and bothering to infiltrate the Net Police and posing as an officer is his idea of "being a genius"…"

"Wouldn't surprise me in the least." Kage shrugged.

"Hmmm… Arrogant "genius" type… There's been a lot of those in the past, and a lot of wannabes as well…" Andy muttered.

"Sure. Like grunts whom do informants lie about a "master key to control the whole Internet" … Which doesn't exist, of course. Our "system" is but a data recollection and classifying system. And it only operates in the Reverse Internet itself, not the general Internet."

"Yeah. Brainless thugs will always be brainless thugs. Easily deceived with a "tale to get rich quickly"… I prefer to spur their mistrust for each other telling them "there's a spy amongst you" or "I paid money to one of you so that you'd leave me alone"… They start accusing each other and brawling so I take the chance to slip away… My strength isn't to be wasted on chaff." Burai smirked.

"Oh sure. We do that all the time too. Sometimes we directly tell them "that informant fooled you and took your money and has fled overseas by now"… They get into a flight of rage, roar about taking the guy's head and run off to chase the guy while blaming each other for spending an extravagant amount of money for "exclusive information"… Like there was something so convenient at hand. No country can control the whole of the Internet. How could we, a small NGO, do so? They don't know how to use their CPU or common sense." Andy laughed.

"Speaking of using the CPU, I heard that your companion finally got an update to the CPU?"

"Who? Guts Man? Oh yeah. About time. If only Ooyama-kun wasn't that lazy and thinking only of making up lies to impress Sakurai-san… Which he never did anyway. Only thing he achieved is a record for lying over 2000 times ever since he began middle school and annoyance of his parents for his bad grades… Having to pay for tutors so that he can study and pass the exams by inches… I guess he'll end up as a construction worker and that'll help him make some diet…" Kage grumbled.

"Wouldn't surprise me. However, at least he'll have a job. It might not be "cool" as working in some big company but, hey. It'd fit with all the muscle he has and never uses." Andy shrugged.

"Sorry. I got off-trails." Kage apologized.

"Oh, I don't mind it. Been a while since I talked to someone, anyway. I wanted to hear to some mundane tales too."

"Alright. Hope we don't bore you, though."

"Not at all. There's always something fun going around you guys so…"

"Guess you could call it so, yeah…"

"What about you guys' other companions? Did you make sure they're out of harm's way?" He turned serious.

"Obviously. We made sure of it. Ever since that nasty incident, some time ago… We secretly deployed guard Viruses on their surroundings as well as barrier-generating devices to repel any intruders who might try to come in during nighttime... The barriers are invisible and emit a signal to fool IR googles and night vision googles too so they catch any intruders unaware… As long as you don't hit it with a heavy mass during a prolonged period of time, they won't yield, either." Kage explained to him although there was a hint of anger on his voice.

"Wise thinking indeed. What about the Net Police members?"

"Ijuuin can take care of himself and he's got Blues with him. Obihiro-kun uses the same safety systems as our companions… Meijin-san has Punk with him to protect him as well…"

"Of course. What about Superintendent Oda and Chief Sorodo?"

"They tend to sleep on the HQ; there's no lone wolf stupid enough to try to burst into a police HQ filled with police officers and riot police. Besides, they want to be at the center of command if some emergency arises to be able to answer to it ASAP."

"As expected. Have there been any annoying visitors around the warehouse area or the Reverse Internet as of late?"

"Tons. Always some small mafias from many countries. All lured in by the promise of quick money by stealing the key from "a bunch of computer geeks"… They all get a kick on the ass by whoever's in sentry duty of the area closer to our Cyber World's entrance." Andy grinned.

"As for those thugs coming from the real world… We decorated the warehouse to make it look like it's a JSDF warehouse. If they try to come too closer we project laser sights to make them believe snipers are aiming for them and play a recording ordering them to flee before we open fire for trying to trespass into a military facility." Kage added.

"Excellent." Burai was amused

"And of course they all run away, while always blaming each other for being fooled by the informants… We did ask for permission to Chief Sorodo and he said he approved of it. As long as it's only laser sights and not actual weapons, nobody should complain. We're not harming anyone and it's their fault for being fooled by scammers." Kage chuckled.

"Obviously. I see that you've got that covered. Excellent."

"We've made sure to spread some rumors saying that we're but bait the police laid out to lure thugs like them into the open and round them in one fellow swoop. Insofar they're being pretty effective at keeping most thugs away. Only the real stupid ones dare to try to come steal the "master key"… And always fail too."

"Perfect. By the way, what about that spoiled heiress?"

"Ayanokouji-san? Huff. I don't think she has a very bright prospect ahead of her at this rate. She needs to get serious already or she won't be up to the task to lead Gabcom Inc. after her father retires…"

"No wonder. Oh yeah. Speaking of talk, XY summoned me, Kuroban and Slur for a talk tomorrow. Looks like he's got something to tell us but it's not about the culprit. Guess it's some advice."

"Oh, really? I didn't know. Slur-sama didn't tell us anything so."

"Guess she wants to keep it discrete least the culprit try to use to figure out where XY is at…" Burai shrugged.

"Good point. Oh well. We should all go rest. Today's been too hysterical of a day to begin with. Some rest will do us well."

"Agreed."

An exit door formed and both came out into a stone corridor, which had two white "portals" on each end; they both nodded to each other as Burai rushed to the left one while Andy hummed and headed to the right one.

_Patience. We'll eventually succeed, as always… Wait for us, culprit!_


	8. Chapter 8: Interstellar tales

**Chapter 8: Interstellar tales**

06:21 AM (Thailand Time), Saturday April 14th…

"… Why, Iris. You are awake quite early today, no?"

"Yeah. There's something I wanted to talk you about, XY."

"Hmmm… The visitors are not coming until 7AM so there is time."

"Can we talk in one of the rooms? I'd rather keep it between us."

"If you wish to, then we shall do so."

Iris (looking older and having blue rose petals as adornment) was standing inside of a wide square in a location somewhere; the floor had some colored patterns drawn on it and which converged into a blue and red circle surrounding a huge tree set in the middle of the square; she was talking to a Navi as both stood beneath the shade of the tree; the environment was illuminated as if it was early morning yet it felt like it was the insides of a cavity rather than the outside.

XY looked very similar to Slur yet their face was that of a man on his 30s: he had no trace of facial hair and his eyes had golden irises to them.

He had that same pattern Slur had on her forehead painted there and some black bands spiraling around the neck: he didn't have the stars on the shoulders, though

His gaze was calm and collected.

"Let us go, then."

Both warped away and reappeared inside of a stone chamber having a stone cube in the middle that served as a table and two stone armchairs facing each other; there were no visible entries or exits to it either; both sat down in the armchairs.

"I've been drawing some hypotheses about how I ended up here. You said you picked me up because I had nowhere else to go. That much I can infer by myself, yet I feel there's a larger picture to the whole thing. Call me paranoid if you must, but… There is, right?"

"… Yes, there is." XY calmly confirmed.

"Allow me to guess: I must have committed crimes in the past, probably spurred by revenge or desperation. And you took pity on me and wanted to help me so you picked me up."

"That is correct as well. I did expect you would eventually began to question why you are living here with us but I did not expect it to be so early. I must admit my estimates were a bit… exaggerated."

"Talk about unusual. I thought you were very nitpicky with numbers and all, with you being a scientist and so."

"That is true but I must admit that the inner workings of Net Navi memory and emotional processing were never my specialty. I am but an_ amateur_ at those. I always preferred to handle mathematical, formulaic problems rather than ambiguous and illogical subjects." XY admitted.

"Really? I thought you could do _anything_ if you set your mind to it. Especially considering there must be tons of things accumulating dust here that have never been properly used."

"My intention was never to change the world. What I have tried to strive for is to ensure the Cyber World does not fall into chaos… And yet I have unintentionally contributed to such incidents." XY sighed.

"I see. Guess I always overestimated your persona. I assumed you to be very ambitious but I see you never had any ambition."

"No. I was never supposed to be "ambitious"."

"The reason you always ask me to disguise when going out is because there are some people out there who are still looking for me, so as to "punish" me for what I did?" Iris assumed.

"Correct. We did make up a cover story to make it look like you were accidentally deleted. Very few people know who you are to begin with and out of the few that do, most believed the cover story. Others, who helped stop you, know the truth but keep it a secret."

"I see. It's like I'd thought."

"The plan was to wait until you had drawn your own hypotheses and such and then allow you to see a copy of your previous memories. We thought then you would understand the despair and revenge that ruled over you back then and would realize how you now are free of them. How you have gained a new goal in life." XY admitted.

"Thought as so, you did keep a copy of my memories somewhere."

"I must assume that despite the memory removal and so, some emotions were too rooted in you and did not disappear. Which is how you have been able to deduce the state of affairs so quickly."

"That's probably the case." Iris admitted.

"I also thought that it would be a waste for someone with your intelligence to be forever trapped in a loop of revenge and despair and not be able to make use of your full intelligence." XY also admitted.

"Oh, yeah. I can imagine that. That's why you provided me with a lot of advanced research materials, so that I would be able to fully make use of my intelligence to tackle those problems and see possible solutions to them… So? When will I be allowed to see those memories?"

"If you are so eager to, I can hand them over right now. If you feel ready to see them and realize that is whom you were until very recently. To face the reality, the harsh truth." XY warned as he leant forward.

"… I understand. Yeah. I'm the one who's pressing you to show them to me yet I must understand the consequences of seeing them." Iris turned serious and nodded in understanding.

"Maybe you would prefer some time alone to reflect upon them? They are probably going to be very "emotional" and shake you." XY suggested as he displayed a worried expression.

"… I can imagine that. You haven't seen them, have you?"

"No. I asked for a female Net Navi I know of to help us scan and extract them. I thought that it would be… rude to do so myself."

"I see. Well, it was a fellow woman then I don't mind if she saw them."

"I apologize. It was necessary. I did try to convince you by talking but you were afraid… Of realizing that what awaits someone after they have revenge is… A feeling of nothingness. That all they did was a waste of time and energies. That they became the same thing as the one they hated. Such is reality." XY sighed.

"… Understood. I will assume I will see vile and cruel things, which I justified in the name of "revenge"… I do not want to pretend to be a "sweet and innocent Net Navi" forever. I know the world can be very harsh. I want to be realistic, know what I will be facing."

"Yes. You are right, Iris. It was no my pretense for you to act that role forever either. As a scientist, I am very realistic indeed. If you think you are ready, go to your room. I already transferred the hard drive with the files there. Open it… If you are ready to see them."

"I understand. We will talk later; I will probably need several hours to process what I will see. I will contact you when the visitors have left and when I am ready to talk about it with you. Ah, yes. Tell _him_ that I want to be left alone because I have something important to do."

"But of course." XY nodded in understanding.

"Speaking of _him_… The reason for today's meeting… It's to introduce them to _him_, yes?" Iris deduced.

"You are correct. Well. It was obvious, was it not?"

"Yeah. But you still gotta be surprised that I found something you'd overlooked the whole time and which was a tell-it-all of you guys' origins, weren't you?" She grinned.

"Of course we were! We thought we knew the place down to the last detail but it turns out we had overlooked that. Talk about a blind spot indeed. We are still finding more from time to time and they are very interesting findings indeed." XY was amused.

"I feel that, lately, you've become capable of showing more emotions than you usually did… Maybe you've become to realize they aren't as bad as you thought they were?"

"Possibly." He admitted.

"Heh. Looks like my instinct has sharpened as well. Maybe I've always had a nature of "not wanting to be underestimated"?"

"It would not surprise me if it were the case. You probably will find confirmation of that in your memories as well."

"Understood. I will face them. Else… I will never be ready to assume what is waiting for me. Or understand who I really am…"

"If that is your resolution, then abide by it. I will simply watch over. I will not interfere."

"Roger."

Both stood up and nodded to each other as they warped back where the tree was at; the environmental light had brightened slightly as if to indicate the passage of time.

"I love this early morning breeze. It feels like it gives you the energies to begin a new day. It might sound illogical coming from data beings like us, Net Navis, but…" Iris muttered as she flickered her hair.

"It might be proof that you are getting closer to humans in terms of emotions and sensations too." XY suggested.

"Good point. I hadn't thought of it like that."

"Sometimes you need to change your point of view to see things from another perspective or realize things you had not seen before, or to throw away pre-conceived ideas because they will hinder you. It has happened to and Master as well." XY admitted as he picked some petals that flew across the area.

"Yeah. No-one's perfect. Alright. I will go face it."

"If such is your resolution… I will only wait for the results."

Iris nodded in understanding and warped away while XY sighed.

_Be strong, child. It will be painful. However, you can overcome it!_

06:55 AM (Thailand Time)...

"… Morning, XY. Guess I'm the first today?"

"Correct, Burai."

"It's been a while. Thanks for sending Refraction to help."

"Ah. Kuroban. Yes, but of course. It was the least I could do."

"I must admit his abilities are intriguing. You must tell me more about them one day, too."

"But of course, Slur. I do not intend to hide anything from you all."

XY greeted his visitors while standing beneath a stone dome having several arches supporting it and a square box with golden wooden walls and a curtain on the center of it; five stone armchairs had been set facing the box; two on the left and three on the right, with some distance between them.

"Master Helios will soon join us. Please, take a seat."

The visitors silently sat down in the armchairs as XY opened a communications window and read up a message written in some odd glyphs, which glowed green; he nodded in agreement as he typed something into it and then shut the screen.

"Indeed. Master Helios is heading here from the underground lab."

The visitors nodded in agreement, as XY sat in one of the left side armchairs; soon enough two figures could be seen appearing past the curtain in the box, causing the visitors to raise their eyebrows slightly as if being surprised by it.

"It has been a while. Allow me to introduce you to my new "adopted child"… Geo."

"Adopted… child?"

"Yes, you heard me right."

"It is an honor."

The man named Helios was on his late 50s or early 60s and almost two meters tall; his eyes' irises were of a brownish/reddish color.

He was dressed with a strange tunic covering the whole of the body and head, which had an "arcane" or "alien" look to it; the tunic was colored in several shades of blues and whites.

Following him a young boy who could be on his early 10s and about a meter and fifty tall, with golden eye irises.

He wore a tunic identical to Helios' but his was colored in different shades of green scattered over its white surface.

"Is he…?" Kuroban nervously asked.

"Yes. I brought him from the _home world_." Helios calmly confirmed.

He and Geo headed for the armchair left of XY; a new, shorter armchair formed between the other two and Geo calmly sat there as Helios sat to this right.

"But… Why? What made you do so?" Slur was surprised, too.

"It was the result of a set of coincidences. I will try to sum it up as briefly as possible…"

"And did you give him the name "Geo"?" Burai assumed.

"Correct. Since I am already using a Greek name, I thought I might as well give him a Greek name as well."

"When did all of this happen?" Slur asked next.

"Last month."

"And you didn't tell us until today? Why's that?" Kuroban inquired.

"I needed time for him to get used to this new environment, and to design a translation device for him to understand us. I also had to analyze how to generate synthetic foods that he would be able to process. I wanted to make sure he was ready to talk to others apart from us…"

"Wow." Burai whistled in surprise.

"Alright. I will begin recapitulating. You know that XY and I are "extraterrestrials" who arrived here millennia ago, fleeing from a catastrophe that threatened to wipe out our civilization. Which was named "Duo"…"

"Of course. There's a home world and 3 colonies. And you're from one of those colonies."

"Exactly. After Duo went berserk and wiped out the home world, we assumed we the colonies would be next. A harsh debate ensued about whether we should fight back or flee. I was in the "flee faction". We built tree gigantic "space-cities" and course for this Solar System, which we knew of due to previous expeditions. One city remained hidden in a planetoid, now named "Kyutora"… They set up a portal that connected with the Kuiper Belt of the Solar System… The remaining two cities landed in different spots of Asia… This one of them…"

"Yes. The other is uninhabited."

"Well. We did arrive here but then another debate happened. Should we find the means to prolong our lives and be ready to protect this world from Duo, in the case it ever arrived here? Alternatively, just assume the city in "Kyutora" would do its duty to destroy the portal if Duo came close to it? I was one of the few that was in favor of the first option, assuming it be more likely. The other always felt too… optimistic to me. Like shifting all responsibility to the Kyutora team. Therefore, I did some experiments to digitize myself and become like a Net Navi. As a result, I earnt the wrath of the Elder Council and I was exiled along with XY. The other comrades who had agreed with me were threatened with harsher punishments if they did the same and so I was the only one who actually did so."

"I see. That's why they later wanted to mix in with us humans and simply die from age… It wasn't so much their attempt to feel responsibility for being the same civilization that created Duo, but… A selfish act to push all responsibilities into the Kyutora team." Kuroban realized.

"Yes. I am aware that is not how I explained it to you in the past but at that time I felt it was not necessary to complicate things."

"And then, the second generation of the Kyutora team joined us… Because their progenitors had never told them their role or why they were hiding in that planetoid to begin with. They followed the instructions left behind by both Elder Councils and did the same. The issue was… That nobody took into account closing the portal. Therefore, eventually, Duo found it and crossed it to come to our Solar System… Fortunately, since Duo was instructed to only destroy civilizations with space-faring or advanced Network technology, Earth was ignored and the defective just continued moving on…" XY continued.

"Meanwhile, those who had remained in the colonies found a way to tap into the time-space and "vacuum energy" to trigger a powerful phenomenon to rewind time and "revive" the home world… Those who had secretly carried out the Duo project were judged and stripped of authority. However, that did not end the issues… Some other fools, also believing themselves to be the masters of the Universe, began an arms race to try to make something "better" than Duo… To the point that our civilization realized they had grown too arrogant… They had been lying to themselves for a long time in believing their genetic engineering had built a perfect society free of needless emotions or pain… They made a very drastic decision… Destroy their civilization and go back to the roots, to start anew… They did leave some "time vaults" that would be eventually unlocked with knowledge for their successors to eventually know why the world had to be reset…"

"And after several millennia, they regained space-faring and Network technologies. But now they lived a "natural" way, without trying to alter their genetics to become "super-men"…" Slur recalled.

"Correct. Not too long ago, I casually established contact with a small expedition corps that found Kyutora and that is when I learnt of what had happened to our civilization while XY and I monitored the evolution of human civilization… I began to make visits to them while posing as a representative of a corporation in the colony I was born at…"

"And we have advised their leaders to keep this planet's existence a secret; it is too early for both civilizations to meet each other."

"Although one did break the prohibition and sent Refraction here to gather information on us and humans and general. We casually detected his presence and we became his new commanders. Fortunately the whole thing has been kept under tight wraps."

"Sorry for the long recapitulation of our background. I wanted to use the opportunity to flesh out some details I had abridged."

"We do not mind. For me it is… exhilarating. To know more about your civilization… You know why." Slur calmly admitted.

"Of course. Alright. Last month… I attended a meeting with the Science Council of the home world. We were going to debate about a project to unseal and dig an old test complex found hidden deep inside a mountain range in one of the home world's continents… As we suspect it might have been a weapons test complex, they wanted my advice on what kind of things we might find there, and how to approach the subject in a discrete manner… The Science Council HQ is like a conference hall, with scientists and corporate representatives of different labs and engineering teams going up and down, holding meetings of their own to make agreements and so on… Anyone is free to use its space as long as they book it up beforehand…" Helios began to describe.

"Interesting."

"While I was waiting for the conference room to be freed, I was aimlessly wandering around one perimeter corridor of the dome-shaped building and looking at the landscape, trying to see if any geographical features from my age remained… Then I saw him, Geo, sitting in an armchair and distractedly using a tablet to read a newscast. He looked annoyed at something so I was picked; I set out to talk with him… It was the first time I had seen a child of my civilization in millennia so I wanted to see what kind of things they were taught and to know what their vision of the world was… But when I asked him his name…"

"I told him, honestly, that I had never had a name. So even if I wanted to tell him, I could not." Geo intervened.

"What? How can that be?" Kuroban was surprised.

"Because I was the adopted child of an engineering team representative… He did not adopt me because he wanted to but because his predecessor, with whom he was indebted to, told him to look after me in his place because he was "busy"… Before he could complain or send me back to that man, he died in an accident… Therefore, this person, my "adoptive father", kept me with his other son… They never liked me and left all teaching up to the "teaching center" as well as an automated Network Navigator to look after them when they were "busy"… They never bothered to give me a name…" Geo explained.

"By all the… What a combination of arrogance and laziness. He couldn't be "bothered" to, huh?" Burai grumbled.

"I took the chance to ask him, Master Helios, about something that had been bugging me at the "teaching center"… Something the teacher kept on saying and that the other two students did not question yet, for some reason, I always felt like he was not telling the truth… Trying to control our minds for his purposes… And those of my "adoptive father"…"

"I see. They were trying to "educate" you in a way they saw fit so that you later follow their commands without hesitation and fooled into thinking what they were up was something "wonderful"… Not unlike what has happened here across history… Twist the facts to fit their "ideals" and make them cling to some stupid "motto" that sounds like it appeals to something "great" but it actually does not standing for anything, it is but an excuse to punish those who think differently or who want to be different…" Slur deduced.

"Yes. He suddenly asked me "Tell me. Is "Duo" really a "savior" that will make us "Lords of the Universe"?"…" Helios told them.

"Savior? That defective thing? Oh come on!" Kuroban grumbled.

"Something that was going to wipe out all advanced civilizations in the galaxy was going to be a savior? What a load of… nonsense!" Burai grumbled next, correcting his last word.

"Exactly. I was terrified at his question. So I began to ask for details, about where that center was at, who was the teacher, and so on…"

"Master then asked one of the Science Council veterans with whom he was going to meet up "I thought that all teaching centers taught that Duo was but a huge mistake?"… "Yes, Master Helios!"… "This child is telling me they are trying to indoctrinate him into believing that thing is a savior and will make us "Lords of the Universe!"… "W-what did you say? B-but that is… ridiculous!"… Another veteran intervened next… "But maybe they pretend to be a teaching center and they are actually a secret program to indoctrinate children?"… "By the stars!"… "How could anyone support such a blatant lie?"… "Truth is… There was some debate a few years ago… We found an anonymous document apparently made by someone involved in the Duo Project and that claimed so. Most people quickly rationalized it was but nonsense but there were some who clung to it as if their lives depended on it..."… "What became of those?"… "At some point they stopped claiming so and we thought they had come to admit reality but…"… "Maybe they thought staying quiet and plotting behind the scenes would be more convenient to them?"…" XY began to narrate as he quoted the words exchanged.

"Obviously enough!" Slur fumed.

"As if that was not enough of a surprise, an aide ran in out of breath. "Lords! There is a group of armed men surrounding the building!"… "ARMED MEN? Where did they get those weapons? No-one makes weapons in the home-world or colonies!"… "Maybe they secretly rebuilt a production line…" … "What do they want?"… "They demand the "control key" of Duo as well as its current location!"… "Control key? What control key? There was never such a thing!"… "They say that if we do not give it to them, they will remove us and "take matters upon our hands"!"…"

"What! A _coup d'état_?" Burai gasped.

"What does that mean?" Geo suddenly asked.

"It is an expression in language named "French"… It means to seize the control of a government… Mostly through violence or war or by deposing the current government…" Helios explained.

"I see. So that is how you define what they were trying to do."

"Yes. You can imagine our consternation and how the whole building panicked. However, I kept calm and quickly thought of a way to show those fools how mistaken they were. I headed to the balcony overseeing the main avenue and called out to them. "Witness this!"… Then I used the building's 3D projection system to display a real-size hologram of Duo; all of them were paralyzed in fear. I followed up with the recording of how Duo had once destroyed the same planet we were standing in. That was more of enough to demoralize all of them and made them panic instead. The Net Navi security team was deployed and quickly immobilized the whole group… Amongst them, there were Geo's "adoptive father" and his biological son as well. They were also part of the conspiracy to try to indoctrinate people into believing they were fated to rule the Universe with Duo "guiding" them to "salvation" and "immortality" and a lot more nonsense I shall not bother to quote." Helios detailed.

"Impressive… And that's how you ended up with his custody." Kuroban deduced.

"Correct. Talking to the "adoptive father", I found out that Geo was the result of an illegal genetic engineering experiment that the "predecessor" had carried out to create a gifted child who would succeed him. That is why the "adoptive father" was so distant; he hated the fact to have to look after a child that would be smarter than he would. Arrogant indeed he was. He spat a lot of venomous words for me but I paid no heed as he was carried away with the others."

"And what became of them?" Slur asked.

"My civilization never believed in that killing subjects for their crime was something moral or effective to begin with. So their memories of their crimes are erased and they are given a chance to start anew. Of course, they are assigned surveillance during the first year to supervise if they really are striving to amend for their mistakes. Yes, it might be morally questionable as well but… Instead of shutting them in prisons forever and dehumanizing him… In my opinion, it feels more "humane"… It might come as arrogant for me, an outsider, to use that word but…"

"Each culture has its own set of morals."

"Good point. Anyway. I talked to the Science Council and suggested to take custody of Geo and bring him with me to Earth. Maybe as the first step to allow my civilization to understand better what this world feels like… And that there are good aspects to humans to compensate for the overwhelmingly bad ones…" Helios finished.

"Fascinating." Burai rubbed his chin.

"Oh yeah. Sorry for the sudden topic change, but… How is Iris progressing like?"

"She talked to me early this morning. She had drawn some ideas of why she was here and what her past had been about… I decided she had the resolution to see her past memories and handed her the data. She will stay on her room to go over them… To emotionally process them as well. I did warn her several times that they would be harsh but she said she had felt that it would be the case." XY explained.

"I see. Then we shall not bother her. By the way, does she know about all of this?" Slur asked with some curiosity.

"Yes. She actually found messages engraved in the walls of some rooms there and there that some of my "comrades" had left behind for me. And, shame on me, I had totally overseen them all these millennia." Helios admitted with some sadness.

"I see. They were not sure if digital data messages would survive so long or that they could be found and deleted so they choose to engrave them in the walls so that they would remain for a long, long time."

"Exactly. They were mostly messages about how they did not agree with the Elder Council and felt like me, that the whole plan was a way to shake responsibility off them… When there was none. Just because you are a citizen of a nation that committed some heinous crimes in the past… That does not make you an accomplice to them… If you were just living your life and not actively taking part on them…" Helios argued.

"Feels like they rather wanted to mix their genes with humans and create a mix of both civilizations… But as we know, that did not work out."

"At all. All they did was some long-winded way to mass suicide. Because that is what eventually meant. The extinction of many, many bloodlines… They claimed to have realized our mistakes of being too arrogant… No, they did NOT. They were even more arrogant than the fools who made Duo." Helios grumbled.

"Truly. The so-called "teacher" was always gloating about how our ancestors had left the vaults behind so that we could rebuild after the epidemic that was going to wipe them out…" Geo fumed.

"You had not told me that. Hmpf. More distortion of history to fit their own agenda indeed. "Advanced"… In terms of technology you might be but in terms of personality and arrogance… You are not much different from the humans… I meant those fools, of course."

"Truly, Master Helios. These visitors have an aura to them that imposes respect. The teacher? Only cared about making himself look "educated"… Would not surprise me if he also had been indoctrinated in the past as well, hence his odd "passion" whenever he talked about "salvation"… The man was not rational at all." Geo sighed.

"It would not surprise me at all, come to these ends."

"Have you seen anything of the world out there?" Kuroban asked.

"Not yet. I am still learning the geography and most the common traits of civilizations. I do not feel an urge either. All in due time. Iris also helps me understand more about this world's Network Navigators too."

"I see. Good points."

"By the way. How are things on your front?" Helios asked them.

"Like I suspected, the subject didn't behave in an unnatural way. We're trying to use connections to find out more about some of the candidates but it'll still take time." Burai explained.

"Patience, children. The opponent is arrogant. He believes himself the puppeteer of this farce. But he will expose himself in his arrogance."

_We shall teach that man how arrogance always leads to downfalls…_


	9. Chapter 9: Seasonal smart-lass

**Chapter 9: Seasonal smart-lass**

12:37 PM (Indianapolis Time), Wednesday April 17th…

"… I insist! There's something that doesn't fit together!"

"Sheesh. How many times will you keep repeating the same?"

"As many as necessary!"

"It was an accident. Something unforeseen. Such things happen. Especially if you're using such a dangerous weapon in a rough way without any safety measures…"

"Hmpf! You will confess your sins!"

"What now? Do you believe yourself a judge from a court martial? When did you become SO arrogant? Colonel?"

"Hmpf! Such is my duty!"

"No, it's not. Your duty is to fight Cyber Terrorists. Like the Crimson Lobby, Shadow Nova, and their proxies… Did you understand me or do I need a bot to read it aloud for you?"

Barrel, Colonel's Operator, was discussing with him as he stood on the roof of the base he was stationed at, and pocketed his hands on his jacket's pockets as he looked at the horizon: Colonel's hologram displayed that he was very annoyed while Barrel was hardly impressed, already used to that behavior.

"One day I'm really going to reset you to factory settings." He grumbled as he directed a glare at Colonel.

"One day means never. Because you're so incompetent."

"What was that?" He began to get annoyed.

"I've received reports from Shadow Man! The "Darkloid world" we raided years ago, and which the "Giga Freeze" should've frozen in time by is still partly active! Why aren't we doing something about it?"

"It's hardly a threat. It's just filled with weakling copies and that fog."

"I decide that!"

"No, you don't."

"Who decided that?"

"The top brass. Got complains? Tell those to them."

"Damn it! It's all their fault! That bastard!"

"Yeah, I know. And it's also your fault. You choose to forget because it "hurt" your "pride". Moreover, it hurt your pride so much you lied to me saying, "We fused together"… "Those two got deleted"… I could list several more lies you told me over the years too." Barrel reminded him while shaking his head in disappointment.

"Grrrrr!" Colonel growled.

A phone's ringtone rang out from inside of Barrel's jacket and he took out a special phone he carried; he looked at the display showing an unknown number and a "paddle lock" icon.

"Secure call… Hmmm… Maybe it's one of the top brass, even."

"Good timing! I'll expose their wickedness!"

"One rotten bastard does not mean all of them are rotten. It's named "guilty by association". You have no evidence." Barrel grumbled.

He pressed a button on the PET and Colonel's voice stopped being emitted although he was clearly yelling given his gestures; Barrel pocketed the PET as he answered the call.

"This is Barrel."

"It's been a while." A distorted voice sneered.

"Hmmm?"

"It's a message from my predecessor."

"Predecessor? Who? Anderson?"

"Oh no. Smithson. The Washington Post editor-in-chief…"

"I remember him, yeah. What about him? He quit?"

"Oh yes. I'm his successor, Jackson."

"And what do you want?"

"Heh. You haven't changed…"

"Hmmm?" Barrel frowned.

"Or so I think Smithson would say."

"Oh, really? Why do I feel like you're the seasonal smart-lass? Come to annoy me?" He grumbled.

"S… Smart-lass? Me? I'm a GENIUS!"

"Charmed."

"Grrr! Bah! You'll soon have headaches knocking down your door and bringing upon your downfall!" The voice sneered.

"Oh yeah. As if some smart-lasses haven't been telling me that for years and nothing happened."

"Don't put me in the same level as those AMATEURS!"

"Alright. Pro master of being smart-lass."

"GRRRRR!"

"That's all you had to say?"

"NO!"

"It better not be the case, yeah."

"Sheesh. Anyway! I know your Doberman's listening in."

"Doberman? I don't have any Doberman." He frowned.

"Oh but you do. A very fierce one indeed. One day it'll yank off the chain and sink those fangs on your neck…" The caller sneered.

"I'm so AFRAID." He didn't beat an eyebrow.

"Sheesh. As always… Nothing impresses you, huh?"

"No. If you already knew that why waste your breath trying? Did you think that the flow of time made me "soften up"? Of course not. You're wasting your breath, time and money."

"Hmpf. Play dumb all you want, it won't help you when the calamity engulfs you… The storm is near…"

"The storming team led by Agent Scott Kennedy, I know."

"Agent Scott Kennedy? What's an Ameroupe agent doing in Japan? Wreck it all like that Bourne superman wannabe?" The caller grumbled.

Barrel merely raised an eyebrow slightly but didn't answer.

"Whatever. I can deal with them. As for you, Barrel… The time has come to settle the scores!"

"Oh yeah. You still owe me 2000 Zenny I lent you 10 years ago… When are you bothering to return those to me?" He taunted as he kept the phone held between the head and the right shoulder.

"2000 Zenny? 10 years ago?" The caller gasped.

"I have a good memory for types like you… West Point Academy student, Jonathan Wonders." He improvised a name.

"HUH? Jonathan Wonders? West Point Academy? Why would I have been in such a place? I am no military!"

"No, you are. I can feel your breath filled with sand from here. You've been in the Middle East, haven't you?"

"HUH? NO! What the hell? Did you finally go mad?" The caller growled out of exasperation.

"Finally? You sound like I was supposed to eventually go mad. Define "go mad" if you can, Wonders."

"I AM NOT WONDERS!"

"Ah. My bad. It was Miracles, not Wonders."

"I AM NOT THAT EITHER!"

"You can't fool me so easily, Jonathan. Kennedy is hot in your trail. Tax evasion, I heard. How devious of you. To flee to California and trying to avoid paying your taxes in Texas…"

"WRONG! What is wrong with you today? I'm not that Jonathan whatever his name is!"

"You're not fooling a hound like me so easily. I can feel Kennedy's footsteps closing on you. Game Over, Jonathan."

"Wha~t? Impossible!"

There was a sound of a door opening on the caller's end of the call and the murmur of people going up and down, phones ringing and the AC blowing air rang out; Barrel merely lifted an eyebrow again.

"What the hell…? There's no-one…! I got tricked…!" The culprit muttered but loud enough to be heard.

"Is something the matter?" Someone asked in Japanese close by.

"Huh? Ah, no! I thought I was late for my mission but it turns out my wristwatch isn't on time. I apologize if I surprised you." The caller replied in Japanese to that person.

_I'm recording all of this. I'll later ask Tomahawk Man to translate what they're saying. I don't trust Colonel to do a good job. _

The door shut again and the caller sighed in relief before clearing his throat and hissing.

"You tricked me!"

"All's fair in war, Jonathan Takeda."

"Huh? When I did become "Takeda"?"

"That's how you called yourself when pulling stunts in the Fukuoka Internet City, no?"

"Damn it. You heard of that?"

"Of course I did. Tomahawk Man is in good terms with Blues… And we have Shadow Man as an Intel agent." Barrel reminded him.

"Damn it. Shadow Man! Thought he'd been deleted by Search Man when intruding their base!"

"Ah. I see. His unit must be setting up misinformation to make you feel confident. As expected of them." He got amused.

"By all the… That means that… This report is all but a load of crap! Because someone didn't do a proper fact checking! I knew it! These damned cops are but a bunch of lazy bureaucrats!" The culprit hissed.

"Guess my laziness influenced them."

"So you finally admitted what I always suspected! You never can do anything properly! Not even keep your Doberman in check!"

"And I'm telling you I've got no Doberman."

"I'm speaking figuratively! You can't tell that?"

"Ah. You meant Colonel all along. Oh well. I'll eventually reset him to factory settings so…" He shrugged.

His PET suddenly began to vibrate and he sighed as he took it out and pressed the "answer" button to connect the incoming call: Tomahawk Man, looking beaten up, showed onscreen.

"Barrel! Trouble! Colonel ran out despite your curfew order!"

"What the hell?"

"Turns out he got an email saying: "XY is keeping Iris prisoner as a Guinea pig to understand women" and he rushed through us at a speed and force I'd never seen on the guy before!"

"Shit. So you were stalling for time!" Barrel growled at the culprit.

"Hah! Not so confident anymore, are we? Barrel! Reversal of tables, indeed!" The culprit sneered.

"Sheesh!"

Barrel minimized Tomahawk Man's window and checked the main screen of the PET; Colonel was no longer there and red "WARNING" messages were flashing in the background; Barrel scowled and pressed the Plug-Out button but an "ERROR" message that filled the whole screen appeared instead so he cursed under his breath.

"You hacked the PET!"

"All's fair in war, no?"

"Damn it."

"I said it! That today you would be done for! What a spectacle it'll be! The famed Colonel raging and breaking his CO's curfew order! And cutting anything on his path from here to Bangkok!" The culprit whispered while chuckling.

"You fucking retarded bastard!"

"Finally! I was waiting to see your true nature! That of a weakling who can only bark but can't bite!" The culprit sneered again.

"What do we do, Barrel?" Tomahawk Man asked.

"Chase the guy at once! I don't care if you need to beat him up by throwing 1000 soldiers at him! Stop him! THAT'S AN ORDER!"

"R-roger!"

"Hmpf. I did a bit of a modification. Whenever his anger increases, so does his strength and defense and agility values! A berserk mode indeed! Once it's activated there's no stopping it!"

"I don't care! If needed we'll delete him and rebuild him from a backup while resetting it to factory settings…!"

"It's your fault for letting some mad scientist imprison the little girl!"

"XY isn't a mad scientist and he's not imprisoning her!"

"Oh? So you are very close friends now?" The culprit sneered.

"And what if! There's no law forbidding me from being that!"

"How like you, Barrel. Like there was no law stopping you from barging in at a Japanese governmental facility, setting up a bounty on children, and using them as bait… All for the sake of a petty revenge."

"GDKBTIS! That was Colonel, acting like a moron! It wasn't my decision at all! I still find the whole deal so stupid!"

"Oh yes. Shaking off responsibility, as always."

"Who the hell are you?"

"Your step-brother, but of course."

"I have NO step-brothers." Barrel grumbled.

"This is Tomahawk Man! There was some VPN tunnel set up and it's self-deleted after Colonel went in! I beat anything it leads straight to Bangkok Internet City!"

"Sheesh! HOW ANNOYING!"

"Feel the anger!" The culprit gloated.

"Yeah. Anger which I'll use to SMASH YOU!"

"Good, good! Your anger will make me stronger."

"You're one to talk, Palpatine."

"Don't put me on the same boat as that decrepit mummy! Should've known to have a B Plan!" The culprit grumbled.

"Yeah. And you have a B, C, D and E plans."

"GHGHSKSBTBBAB!" He growled something undecipherable.

"I've had enough of wasting my breath in you, Jonathan Little."

"Little! Me! How dare you!"

"Go drink rum and revere Davy Jones' locker."

"I'm no pirate, damn it!"

"Yeah, you are. A Cyber Pirate. Cyber Blackbeard."

"GHSNBTHDBAH!"

"And improve your Esperanto else I'll never understand what you're trying to say, Jonathan Blackbeard the 13th."

Barrel had had enough so he cut the call; his PET vibrated again and he fumed as he replied to a call; Refraction appeared onscreen.

"Barrel-dono. Excuse my sudden call. I am Refraction, a subordinate of Lord XY. Your Network Navigator, Colonel, is running wild in the outskirts of the Bangkok Internet City and has burst into an abandoned building I and my comrades use as rendezvous point."

"It's that Takeda-whatever-his-name-is bastard! He altered Colonel and my PET while he kept me busy through a phone call! He wants to bring shame to me by using Colonel's paranoia and stupid pride!"

"Thought as much. My comrades are trying to hold him at bay but his specifications are above the usual so they are struggling."

"I'd like to send reinforcements there but the VPN the culprit set up got deleted! Can't you make something like that?"

"Oh yes. Please leave it to me. I shall make one as fast as possible."

There was an explosion behind Refraction so he turned around, surprised, and had to jump to the right as Colonel's saber arm thrust through the space his face had been at a moment ago; the camera shifted to show a view from above and behind his shoulders; Colonel's eyes lacked intelligence to them and were but two red dots; red veins of energy travelled across his face and his left fist had the Colonel Cannon equipped; a menacing black aura surrounded him.

"KILL! KILL! KILL ALL!" He roared; his voice sounded distorted, as if his speech program was damaged.

"W-what is that? That is no longer… something rational… It is more like it was… a beast?" Refraction lost his composure, for once.

"Some mockery that that damned bastard came up with! As if I hadn't enough headaches!"

"Flame Fist!"

"Ugooh!"

"Aqua Tower!"

"Guooohhh!"

"Kogarashi!"

"Graaahhh!"

"Elec Sword!"

"Gugaahhh!"

"Oh? So those are your comrades…"

Four standard Net Navis colored red, blue, green and yellow jumped out of the destroyed 3rd floor room of the building behind the mad Colonel and quickly attacked him with elemental attacks, momentarily stunning him; they all formed Yo-Yo Battle Chips next and shot them at once, making the wires bind Colonel's torso, arms, and legs above and below the knees, dropping him facedown into the ground; they quickly put some distance as Colonel growled and tried to break free.

"Guess I'll have to put you out of your misery."

A standard female Navi colored brown walked in and sighed as she extended her hands and golden energy formed on them; it surrounded Colonel and integrated with him as he roared; a blinding flash ensued followed by a roar of agony and a screech; when the light dimmed Colonel was back to normal although unconscious and they all sighed in relief yet they kept their distance just in case.

"… It's you, right? Iris." Barrel called out.

"Yeah. Before you ask… I was given a copy of all my past memories. I am aware of what I've done. But nevertheless, I can't see it to forgive this man for his selfish behavior." Iris sighed.

"I didn't expect anyone rational to do so anyway."

"Yeah. So do whatever you wanna do with this failure of a man. I don't want to be involved with him ever again. I want to live a free life free of stupid "duties" they imposed on me because he wasn't up to the task he had to do. I've spent YEARS locked up to be blackmail material to keep this man silent. It's about time I earnt some freedom, no?"

"But of course. I also don't intend to interfere at all. All I care is that I'm going to reset this guy to factory settings and thus I'll finally be able to take a break from having to BABYSIT."

"Fair enough. Fortunately, this is the very outskirts and there's never anyone in this worn down area. As long as we delete all sensor data, no one will know what happened here. We'll fix that wall too."

"Alright. Can you send that bulk over here? I want to do the factory settings reset AT ONCE."

"But of course. Please allow me."

Refraction walked over there and opened a portal on the ground: Colonel was warped and reappeared inside of Barrel's PET.

"Good. Sorry. I owe you a lot today."

"Do not mind it, Barrel-dono. This is also a mission. Such a happening was foreseen time ago. That is why we were stationed here just in case. The "feral" aspect was unforeseen, but of course…"

"Obviously. I'll work on things over here. Of course, no record of this will remain on my part. I will simply write it as that I used an emergency override to stop him."

"Understood. We shall take care of "cleansing" over here."

"Keep that man under tight watch, Barrel." Iris warned him.

"Of course. I must take responsibility for my lack of action. I was stupid to think he'd calmly accept the cover story as it was."

"We all make mistakes, Barrel. No-one's perfect."

"… Yeah. You're right. Goodbye."

23:33 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Huh… Hello? White flag! It's me, Tomahawk Man…"

"Barrel sends you?"

"Y-yeah… He has some info for you guys…"

"If you mean Colonel's rampage…"

"Yeah, you must know by now but…"

Tomahawk Man nervously approached a tall firewall somewhere while waving a white flag: Zero's voice echoed from behind it; he placed a box on the ground and stepped away.

"Here's his report. He thinks you'll find it useful on how to avoid your Navis suffering the same… infection."

"Hm. True. We hadn't thought of that."

"T-that's all. I'm gonna leave, OK?"

"Sure."

Tomahawk Man ran out at once while Legato warped into the area and picked up the box; he shrugged and warped back into the stone corridor Andy and Burai had been in; a doorway formed to his right and he stepped into one of those sealed stone rooms where Zero was waiting for him; Legato left the box on the floor and opened it to bring out a USB pen device which he grabbed; a wide screen with data was displayed and both began to read it.

"I see. The culprit is fluent in both English and Japanese… Moreover, had the guts to call from the workplace… As evidenced by the background sounds and someone asking him if there was an issue." Legato read up.

"Yet he also insisted that he'd known Barrel for a long time as well. That's curious. Some old rival of his?" Zero suggested.

"Possibly. Maybe from the academy age or so…"

"Maybe the culprit is actually a foreigner."

"Sounds like it. Maybe he uses a translation device to understand and speak in Japanese."

"And a dictionary software to be able to understand written Japanese as well… However, the problem will be figuring out which room the culprit was at and if the police officer who called out to him remembers the scene. Probably not." Zero sighed.

"Yeah. Things like that happen often so."

"Hmm? There's a note here!"

"Wait! This name!" Legato gasped.

"But… Didn't this man…?"

"Maybe that was a red herring too."

"True. Fits with what we've seen of his personality."

"Hmmm… I'm sure he was betting on Barrel having totally forgotten about him… Reminiscing their old "rivalry" made him feel "superior" and like he was in a spot to make fun of him. But wasn't obviously counting on Barrel toying with him, of course." Legato reflected.

"Man. This conversation log is fun. Sounds like something that could be used for a gag in _Big Bang Theory_." Zero chuckled.

"Truly. Maybe we could ask the V-B-N trio to do their "editing magic" and publish it in Twitter pretending it's a gag video. I'm sure the culprit will be raging at seeing his shameful behavior spread all over the network. Would be so fitting!" Legato suggested.

"Oho. That'd be so great."

"I'll ask for Slur-sama's permission first. But knowing Her Grace, I will probably be told to go ahead with the idea."

"Sure."

"But remember. Keep it to yourself. I'll report to Noir-sama and President Hades myself." Legato warned.

"Sure. Count on me."

Both nodded to each other as they exited into the corridor and entered the portal at the end of it; they ended up in a round stone platform hovering inside of a metallic room; the walls were filled with rows upon rows of cells into which data coming from below, from some deep tubes, flew in after being inspected by a lot of Program-kun units moving all around the space.

"Good. I'll do the usual queries and connection checks to make the culprit think we're still searching the Seraph databases. That should give them some confidence."

"Roger. I'll go report."

Legato warped out and reappeared in the real world within Noir's (AKA Kuroshiro's) room; Kuroshiro was typing in the PC and distractedly humming a tune as he listened to music using earphones.

"Excuse me, sir."

"Oh. Legato. Did something happen?" Kuroshiro stopped the music and took out the earphones.

"Yes, sir. Barrel sent us a message. It had a name of whom he suspects is the true identity of the culprit we're after."

"Really?" He was surprised.

Legato walked over to him and whispered something to his right ear; Kuroshiro was visibly surprised.

"But, then…"

"Yes, sir. It was probably a red herring."

"That'd explain a few things indeed." He muttered.

"Excuse me, sir?"

"Nothing. Just rambling. Wait. There's another issue."

"Another issue, sir? What is it, sir?"

"If Barrel's suspicions are true and that man turns out to be whom he thinks it is… Could that mean that "the other man" is also alive and kicking?" Kuroshiro scowled.

"Ah! I see, sir… Now that you mention it, sir… We can't deny the possibility, sir. It would seem we have been fooled by a preconception all this time, sir." Legato rubbed his chin.

"Who else knows?"

"Insofar only Zero, I and you, sir. I was planning to report to President Hades. Mr. Daikani went back to the mainland so the President will be alone. Slur-sama went to see XY again but I don't know when Her Grace will be back, sir." Legato explained.

"Alright. Tell him. We must think of a way to lure him into the open without causing him to flee at last minute's notice."

"I know, sir. By the way, what about Andy and Kage?"

"… Hmmm… I will tell them myself. Maybe I'll suggest them to run simulations of the "Ryuusei Form"; we might need it in case the culprit has decided to make mass copies of Falzer next." He decided.

"Understood, sir. If you will excuse me, sir…"

"Yeah. Go report to President Hades. Then come back. We need to think of a plan at once." He commanded.

Legato saluted and warped away while Kuroshiro's face contracted in anger and squeezed both fists; he sighed and shook his head sideways to snap out of it.

"… No. It's not revenge. I'll just prove to that coward that he doesn't scare me anymore. That's it. However, I could be wrong. It might actually be the case that that hateful man is the one who's dead… We'll soon see. Huff. Let's resume this _Persona _PSP version OST playlist…"

He turned on the music again and began to hum again.

_You're cornered, you madman… This stupid game of tag is over! At last!_


	10. Chapter 10: Actors

**Chapter 10: Actors**

08:47 AM (Japan Time), Friday April 21st…

"Huh… Excuse me, sir…?"

"Yes? What can I help you? Miss?"

"Huh… You see, sir… When I was coming here from home…"

"Something happened, Miss?"

"Yes, sir… Some rough men surrounded me… I drew my service gun but they said they only wanted me to deliver a message… Dropped an envelope on the ground and ran away…"

"Deliver a message? How odd."

"The oddest part, sir, is that… It's addressed to you, sir."

"True. It does say "Lieutenant Maeda Masao" in the envelope. Maybe it's a threatening letter because I lead an operation to round up some scammers trying to launder money…"

"It could be the case, sir…"

A female police officer whose sight was hidden by her cap and who looked shy was talking to another officer inside of a wide corridor with windows on the left wall; the other officer calmly picked up an envelope with bloody writing on it, surprised, and opened it to see a letter folded inside of it so he unfolded it.

"What? "To my foolish creator"? What does that mean?"

"I wouldn't know, sir… I was just ordered to hand it over, sir…"

"… "You thought you were pulling the strings the whole time but you are wrong; I always was aware of your plans and I never wanted to be but a mere human puppet; all I said about adoration was but a lie to make my foes think I was unstable; what they cornered was but a spare body; I am still alive indeed; and I will create the Age of Darkness instead. Because "Fate", the God of destiny, choose me."… What in the…"

The officer hissed something as he gripped the letter and it was partially crumbled.

"… "And so I, Lord Void, will usher into a new Age of Darkness. You will be left behind as the relic of the old world that you are. No override devices will save you this time around nor will decoys. I know all of your moves, what you have done over the years. You cannot escape my surveillance; the net is closing on you. The messengers who delivered this letter will be your executioners; you can flee to the North Pole, I would find you nevertheless. Your fate is set in stone. I am above all of your other pitiful creations: the monster, the golden man, the storm man, the vampire man, the kid's parody, the giant stupider than a gorilla… I have overcome them all. I myself am indeed a masterpiece and humans shall fear my name. You? You will rot away, forgotten as a footnote in the annals of history… The history that I will carve into this world… Farewell, foolish creator! The Almighty Immortal Void has spoken!"…"

The officer's face contracted into pure rage as the tore the letters to pieces and roared.

"HOW DARE YOU! I MADE YOU AND YOU DARE TO THINK YOU ARE ABOVE YOUR CREATOR! WHAT A PIECE OF JUNK! WHY DID I COME UP WITH IT TO BEGIN WITH! DAMN IT ALL! THEY ALL FAILED! NEBULA GREY, THE KID'S SHADOW, COSMO MAN, CLOUD MAN, LASER MAN, SHADE MAN! ALL BUT SCRAP! DAMNED SERENADE! HAD TO GET IN THE WAY AND TURN FORTE INTO SOMETHING WEAKER WITHOUT HATRED!"

The officer suddenly gasped, as he seemed to realize something; he violently turned around to see the female officer crossing her arms and forming a smug smile on her face.

"You! You're also a pawn of that piece of junk!"

"Wrong."

The officer hissed and drew his service revolver; however she calmly closed her right fist and moved it backwards; the revolved jumped off his hand and flew across the corridor to fall a couple meters behind her and skid across the floor.

"Game over. Doctor Regal." She announced.

"Indeed!"

"Huh? What! When did you…?"

Superintendent Oda and a platoon of riot police appeared out of nowhere surrounding the corridor; the female officer stepped backwards as an officer moved to position himself in front of her; the fake officer or, rather, Dr. Regal, hissed as he looked around.

"Be as swift as the wind, be as quiet as the forest, be immovable as the mountain, and be as a fierce as the fire… _Fu-rin-ka-zan_." Oda calmly quoted without beating an eyebrow.

He extended his arm forward the riot police charged, converging on all directions upon Dr. Regal and quickly reducing him; one tugged at his face to rip away his latex mask and reveal his true face beneath it.

"Impossible!" He growled.

"Oh no. You're the one who defeated yourself. It all began with that fake Police Navi. You were actually admitting that you'd infiltrated the force. However, what gave you away was you behavior when you called Mr. Barrel the other day. He knew something was bugging him about your behavior and he deduced the only one who'd bother to do gloat about hatred and all had to be you. Because that's what you did, years ago. When you led "Nebula" along with Twilight."

"Twilight, Twilight, Twilight…! They all bring up that man's name! It's all but lies! There was no such man in Nebula!" Regal hissed.

"Thought so. It felt too stupid to tell your guinea-pig, who might run away, who you were, after all." The female officer shrugged.

"What?" Regal growled.

"Which means that the location we thought it was the Nebula hideout is actually wholly unrelated and it was that man's own hideout. The photograph and the text written behind it were red herrings. As to what became of him… Who knows?"

"That voice! Now I realize!"

"For a "genius" you sure are slow to catch on."

"Slur!" He growled.

The officer lifted her gaze to reveal it was Slur indeed; she looked rather amused, which irked Regal further.

"And I like I thought… You were the one who staged that "attack" years ago. Over the years, I have been unofficially questioning the instigators and they admitted someone had sent them anonymous messages over the intranet of the force, threatening to expose their skeletons in the closet unless they did as the messages ordered them… Therefore, I knew the instigator had to be within the force. I never brought it up because I foresaw the culprit would get confident and lower the guard as the years passed and the story became forgotten." Oda added.

"By all the…! I thought you could only think of that stupid uncle of yours which is but a Sherlock Holmes character! A grunt! I thought you had no sense of shame!"

"That was my intention. To make you think I was too stupid to notice the hints you'd left scattered around. It worked."

"This can't be!"

"Ah yes. That letter is something I wrote myself so that you yourself would confess that you were Doctor Regal indeed. Nobody but you would know what the letter meant. "Void" is indeed gone, and those "spare bodies" were but a decoy you set up. We did check the logs in the central computer and found no traces of any data being transferred to the surface before and after the self-destruction. There was none. Void had no longer a purpose and choose to die. Deluded until the end by the fantasy you programmed into its head. How pitiful. But what was I expecting from a piece of junk to begin with?" Slur exposed in a dull tone of voice.

"Damn them all!"

"Alright. Take him to the cells. We'll carry out a thorough debriefing."

Suddenly, and without warning, one of the windows shattered as a figure forced its way into the corridor; some officers quickly dragged Regal away while the others formed three rows to shield Oda and Slur; both put on riot police helmets placed on the ground as they tried to see who had come in; a mass of smoke had formed there so the figure wasn't wholly visible; the riot officers readied their shields as the figure shot small knives at them while spinning; they made a distorted chuckle and then seemed to draw weapons from a waist holster; the attacker shot a total of 12 rounds in a row before tossing the guns and picked another from another sheath on the back; it swung the gun horizontally as they fired yet another 6 rounds; all of them ricocheted against the bulletproof shields so the figure made another chuckle and suddenly dropped to their fours; Slur seemed to foresee what was coming so she swung her right arm to form a wall-shaped barrier protecting the frontline officers; a missile shot towards it and detonated on contact.

"That was close! But how did you know that…?"

"While some of the moves seem to have been taken from someone else, that pose and the silhouette were familiar… If I am not mistaken, the smoke grenade should soon disperse…"

Indeed, the smoke began to disperse revealing "Boba Feet" from the _Star Wars_ movies standing there; three single action army revolvers laid on the ground, emptied, and so where the knife sheaths he had strapped to his hands; he made some weird spin while aiming his arms diagonally and then took on a pose reminiscent of a wrestling fighter.

"That's all ya have, buds? That won't be enough to beat me, ya know! Ya lack the guts, did ya know?" He suddenly spoke in Kansai dialect.

"HUH?" Everyone was baffled.

"Slow, too slow! Ya will have to do better than that, fancy punk!"

"What was that?" Slur got annoyed.

"Oops. My bad. I meant… Piece of data believing it's invincible!"

"Oh yes? You are one to talk!"

She glowed as her police uniform disguise turned into data to be warped away and quickly drew her two swords; Boba Feet made that stupid pose again and laughed as he turned on his backpack and flew out through the window he'd opened.

"I'm the fool killer! And you're Spiderman, always getting in through the windows that I break!" He taunted.

"WHY YOU!"

Hissing, she warped from her location to in front of the window and jumped upwards to chase Feet as he flew towards the roof of a nearby building.

"Are you alright, sir?" The commander asked Oda.

"What about you? Is anyone injured?" He asked back.

"No, sir."

"Let's move away! Seal the corridor!"

"Roger, sir!"

"But, really, sir… A Boba Feet parody? Who would come up with something so ridiculous?" The commander asked Oda.

"Dunno. I feel like it's not Regal's handiworks. He might've been acting the goat as of late but not to that point."

"What do they gain from angering that Navi, though?"

"Dunno. But when Slur is annoyed better run to the shelter because she will beat you up to an inch of your life." He rolled his eyes.

"Those moves reminded me of both Revolver Ocelot and Vamp from the _Metal Gear_ series." Obihiro muttered over Oda's radio.

"Someone did a collage of Ocelot, Vamp and Boba Feet? _How innovative_ indeed." Meijin grumbled.

"Sure thin', man. At least it's not as annoying as some repetitive Internet memes, you know." Punk shrugged.

"I gotta agree with you on that…"

"Can you send me footage to my phone?" Oda asked.

"I'm on it, sir… Please wait a minute…"

"Sir! Are you alright?" Enzan asked as he ran up towards him.

"What about you, Ijuuin-kun?"

"I'm alright. The culprit stalled me by sending some punks to ambush me but since Atarasei was with me, we managed to beat them up and they ran off." Enzan explained.

"Good."

"What's going on, sir? I heard there was a gunfight, sir."

"Some weird collage of Ocelot, Vamp and Boba Feet."

"What? Oh, come on. It sounds so STUPID." Enzan groaned.

"And as if that wasn't enough, it speaks in Kansai dialect."

"Huff. What else?"

"The culprit was Dr. Regal."

"WHAT?" He and Blues gasped.

"But didn't Forte blow up the sub where Regal was at, years ago? Or so I've heard…" Blues asked.

"That was probably a decoy, something akin to "Void"… From the looks of things, he's been behind the "Darkloids" as well, plus other nasty stuff over the years… The Nebula Grey we witnessed not too long ago trying to turn "Barbatos" into its tool was probably Regal using it as a proxy to interfere with the Cyber World, too… And wouldn't surprise me if he's the one who managed to get the guy out of the cage, too." Oda explained to them.

"I see! When you put it that way, a lot of things start to make sense!"

"Yes. We've yet to do a full debriefing but I'm sure he'll admit to those."

"To gloat, huh?" Enzan wasn't too surprised.

"And what became of that collage?"

"Taunted Slur to chase it and they're fighting out there."

"Huff! Finally! I found a working camera. Switch imagery to your phone, sir!" Obihiro reported.

Oda drew his smartphone to see how Slur and the Boba Feet imitator were clashing in mid-air; Slur was attacking with her blades while the imitator used the double lightsaber weapon.

"Sheesh. As if they didn't have enough they gave him Darth Maul's weapon as well."

"How _cultured_ of them!" Oda grumbled.

"Wait. Aren't we forgetting those two?" Blues suddenly brought up as if he'd remembered something.

"Those two…? Judge Man and Element Man? Good point. I wouldn't be surprised if this is something either of them came up with." Enzan realized as he rubbed his chin.

"True! Regal took our attention away from those two! Locate their current whereabouts, at once! Use the hidden trackers!"

"Roger, sir! Huh? Devil. "Access denied"… I'm afraid they found them and rewrote the telnet login information." Obihiro cursed.

"Lovely. Wouldn't surprise me if Regal tipped them off about those and so they rewrote those days ago while Regal was keeping us busy. Now the issue will be finding those two!" Oda fumed.

"I shall offer no excuses, sir." Blues saluted.

"I'm not blaming you specifically. This is my responsibility too. But I felt that we were so close to finally achieving our goal that I got carried away by what was going on…" Oda sighed.

"Anyone would've, sir." Enzan tried to console him.

"Check on Hikari-kun and his family! As well as his friends! I wouldn't be surprised if Regal attempted to injure them, too!"

"At once, sir!"

Enzan quickly opened his PET's contacts list, and pressed the "Hikari Netto" contact; a call was established, and there was a sound as it was answered.

"This is the answering machine service. I am in class right now. Please leave your message after the signal." An auto-voice replied.

"Crap. Forgot it, today's a Friday and he's at class."

"Call Legato, then. I'm sure he's placed some of his men in the area to keep watch." Oda ordered.

"No need to, sir, I shall…" Blues quickly began.

"IT'S AN ORDER! I'VE GOT NO TIME FOR YOUR PRIDE, BLUES! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?" He yelled.

"Y-yes, sir!" Blues was surprised, obviously enough.

"Enzan? Is everything OK over there? I heard from Slur-sama what's going on there. Talk about a parody." Legato answered.

"Did you assign some of your men to keep watch on the middle and high schools, Legato?"

"Of course. Burner Man and Video Man are in the high school, Needle Man and Yamato Man are in the middle school."

"Contact them and make sure there's nothing odd in the area."

"True. Alex did report to me about the incident with the punks. I'll contact them at once."

"We've got other problems asides from that."

"You mean those two, right? Truth to be told, we were trying to find them since some days ago but they suddenly vanished. Last we knew of them was that they were going to "settle the score"…"

"And where was that?"

"They were apparently going to Nevada. We thought Judge Man was "inspired" and wanted to emulate the "wild west" duels. However, we lost their track when they were on their way there… Last confirmed position was in New Zealand. That was 5 days ago." Legato sighed.

"We found out that they overwrote their tracers' remote login system; Regal must've tipped them off…"

"No surprise."

"You knew it was Regal?"

"Yeah… The other day… Barrel sent us a copy of the call that he'd received… He added a comment of his own… "The only one who I was in a "rivalry" and matches this behavior is Regal. I'm sure he pulled a stunt all those years ago to pretend to be dead and is actually infiltrating the Net Police."… That's how we knew for sure who it was. But to ensure that he didn't get a grasp of it and flee at a moment's notice, we had to keep it under very tight wraps…" He admitted.

"I see. We had to act naturally to make him feel confident."

"Exactly. "To fool the enemy, you must first fool the ally"…"

"Fine. If that was the intent of the Superintendent, I abide by it."

"I got reports from all of them. Everything is normal and there's nothing odd in the area, be in the real world or in the Cyber World. Noir-sama also contacted Dr. Hikari and he reported nothing out of place. Ms. Hikari said all is normal too. Of course, he double-checked they were the real ones using some "keywords" we'd agreed upon." Legato detailed.

"Hmmm… Alright. Nevertheless, expect something to happen. Even if sounds trivial and insignificant… The disappearance of those two reeks; they could be up to something."

"But hadn't XY removed their feeling of revenge?" Blues asked.

"He did. But they still have a big ego and want to prove they can learn."

"Unsurprisingly." Enzan wasn't surprised.

"Excuse me, sir. Someone called "Darkus Mors" rang the front desk saying he couldn't get in contact with you, sir." An officer reported as he covered the mike of the phone receiver.

"Oh true. I'll take over."

"Yes, sir. Here it is, sir."

"Hello, young Kuroban. This is Oda."

"Ah! Superintendent. I was concerned that I couldn't get in touch of you, even though the line isn't busy." Kuroban replied.

"Hmm? Ah! I accidentally set it to silent mode." Oda realized as he looked at the icons on his phone's home screen.

"So you finally unveiled Regal, huh? Slur told me in advance early this morning."

"Indeed. Now we're dealing with a couple of issues."

"Yes, I have gotten a hold of the news. I sent End Angel to scout and he's reporting in live the battle between Slur and that… "Collage", was it? That's the word he used."

"Collage indeed. Do you have any info on the whereabouts of those two, by any chance?"

"I was having Blue Wave look into it but it'd seem the New Zealand data was a red herring. Maybe they didn't even leave Japan to begin with and just went to some small city or so." Kuroban explained.

"Good point."

"Or maybe they _did_ go overseas but had plenty of time to delete all traces of their trip… Or maybe they camouflaged as normal Navis similar to what XY's 4 warriors do…" He offered.

"That's also very possible too."

"Sir? We're making some progress with the debriefing, sir."

"Good. By the way, come closer."

"Yes, sir? What is it, sir?"

Oda whispered something to the officer and he was slightly surprised; he whispered a reply back to Oda, who nodded in agreement.

"Good. And, also…"

He whispered some additional orders and the officer nodded in understanding; he saluted and rushed away.

"Sorry. It's something I'd rather keep… discrete. It involves a personal incident of mine… Something before I joined the force… I suspected Regal was trying to dig into it to blackmail me." Oda explained.

"No wonder." Nobody was surprised.

"Finally!"

They turned around as Slur appeared there, having several burn marks on her body and scratches as well; she looked pretty annoyed.

"What happened?" Oda asked.

"Huff! That annoying thing began to douse me in gasoline and then set fire to me! I quickly put it out using a Geyser Battle Chip but it did leave these marks on me… Then attacked me with the sword as I was trying to put out the fire… I finally cut off its head and it exploded while yelling "the fear" or something like that."

"Lovely. So they mixed in "The Fear" as well, huh? Why do I suspect it was Judge Man's idea?" Obihiro rolled his eyes.

"So? Any progress?" Slur asked.

Oda whispered something to her and she calmly nodded in understanding, as if expecting the reply.

"So it was him indeed. What a coward." She scowled.

"Indeed. He's going to rot in a hole forever. The list is so large; he's not getting away with it. And no bribes will change that."

"Be careful, though. There might be sleepers stationed there and there and he might try to use them."

"Good point. Maybe we can spread a rumor saying he tries to bribe officers but actually has no money. Nobody will want to do anything without a reward." Oda suggested.

"Good. Let us make us of the psychological side of things. Do we know anything about the two fugitives?"

"I was talking to young Kuroban. The New Zealand was probably a red herring. Whether they've really left the country or not is unknown. Either outcome is possible." He summed up.

"True. I should talk to XY to see if he has gotten a hold of something on his front. Maybe between him and… "That person"… We can come up with something to lure them out into the open."

"Good idea. I'll also spread rumors about a bounty for their heads, which should make the underground stir up too." Kuroban suggested.

"I approve. We need to find those two at once."

"Alright. I'll get my men to start spreading rumors. Goodbye."

"Slur-sama, what should we do?" Legato asked over Enzan's PET.

"Hmmm… Tell the sentries to remain in their posts. However, tell Shade Man and Cosmo Man to start searching. I do not mind if they need to use force to loosen the tongues of some lowlifes. Any accurate information is welcome at this stage." She commanded.

"Roger. I shall transmit the orders at once."

"The question remains, though… Who was that "Twilight" man involved with Noir's past? The trigger that brought you all together to start Golden Star…" Oda wondered.

"Believe me; I have been trying to find that out for years. However, with all info we have being lies to begin with, we do not have any starting points. The odd machines in the hideout provided no data either."

"Maybe he was some kind of mad scientist like Regal? Obsessed with creating perfect soldiers by suppressing human emotions?" Enzan suggested.

"Would not surprise me if it was the case given the nature of the experiments he did on Noir… They either acted alone or were part of some secret research team… Maybe the whole thing ended up in a failure, and he was killed to keep the whole thing secret… Maybe it was to blame him for the failure since their only test subject ran away… I feel that what he gloated about killing Regal was also a lie and he was never in the submarine either when Forte blew it up." She exposed.

"Very possible indeed. However, if he's dead then I'd say we needn't worry about the man… Hopefully." Oda muttered.

"No point in speculating without data. Of course, we intend to always be on watch if that man or someone related to him tries to attack us in some form or another…"

"Alright. No use worrying about what-ifs. Our top priority right now is finding the two runaways. Let's get moving."

"I will return to the base to heal and to coordinate with Zero. You know where to find me if there is some happening in your end."

"Yes. We will be busy processing Regal as well. Oh! By the way. I was forgetting about something."

He whispered something to Slur and she frowned for a moment before remembering something; she looked slightly irritated as she rubbed her chin with the right hand.

"Good point. Maybe there is a need to place pressure. Alternatively, maybe their CO has already placed some to keep his mouth closed. Nevertheless, we should keep an eye on them as well. You did well in reminding me, Superintendent."

"It's nothing. I also want to make sure of their safety too."

"Truly. Goodbye."

Slur warped away while Oda sighed and headed over to the water dispenser; he grabbed a plastic cup from the rack to the right and poured in some cold water; he slowly drank it up and let out a sigh of relief as he rubbed his eyes.

"Good. Obihiro-kun and Meijin-kun. Begin hunting as well. Check with other branches for unusual incidents reported in the last few days. Even if they seem trivial at a first glance."

"Roger, sir."

"Ijuuin-kun. Handle the field. If needed, intimidate some informers so that they loosen their tongues too. We have no time to waste with their poor acting skills and their "tales to get rich quickly"…"

"Roger, sir. Let's go, Blues."

"Yes, Enzan-sama."

"The riot team is relieved for now but be on constant communication in case there's a need to be deployed. Excellent work."

"Yes, sir! Let's go, men!"

"Roger, sir!"

"I will go supervise Regal's "debriefing". Call me if you find something new or if I don't answer the phone come see me. I'll be at the 6th floor's Room 4, alright?" He instructed next.

"Understood, sir." Obihiro and Meijin nodded in understanding.

"It's probably going to be a long hunt as well. So don't burn out all of your energies in the first day. Do what you can, I don't need the impossible. If you need to pause, do as many times as you need. I don't want you to stay all night up either. Understood?" He warned.

"Perfectly, sir."

"Good. The hunt's on. Let's all do our best, men!"

_As we tie up a loose end, another two come loose, huh? We'll tie them too!_


	11. Chapter 11: Wiping all out

**Chapter 11: Wiping all out**

01:12 AM (Japan Time), Saturday April 22nd…

"… Hum! This is a difficult move indeed."

"Truly."

"Hmmm… Oh! Horse to C-4! I take your pawn!"

"Splendid. Here is my counterattack. Rook to D-6! I take out your tower, Yamato Man."

"As expected of Freeze Man!"

"As expected of veterans. It is a battle worth watching!"

"Thank you as well, Pharaoh Man."

Freeze Man and Yamato Man were sitting in steel blocks in what looked like the deck of a ship somewhere.

The deck had some small 2-story building set on a line across the sides to end some meters away from the bow: two gigantic covers were lifted some meters above of the deck as well and they seemed to be big and wide enough to cover the entire deck: the sound of waves and seagulls echoed around and one could see a segment of the port area a few kilometers away.

Several motor boats could be seen hanging above the deck using cranes as well.

They were playing cheese using a 3D image that projected in the air between both of them; Pharaoh Man was hovering behind the image and in front of the left side handrails as he watched them play.

"We still have not made progress finding the fugitives? Last I heard was that the underground was looking for them too."

"Sadly, no. Rumors of a bounty for finding them have spread."

"And Shunoros is behind them; if they are looking for those two, they mean it. So the underground is moving to find them too."

"Good. The looters have nowhere to hide at."

"Looters sure are. Stealing things from there and there to use them as part of that stupid collage thing…" Freeze Man sighed.

"Youth nowadays…" Yamato Man shrugged.

Freeze Man looked about to argue his words but he decided to stay shut, apparently not wanting to spark a debate; he discreetly signaled for Pharaoh Man to not to comment either.

"Huh? What! An object is approaching at incredibly high speed… From mid-air!" Pharaoh Man suddenly gasped.

"What!"

There was a crashing sound and both looked southwards towards the shore; a "Dimensional Area" wall had become visible as something from the outside had crashed into it and was trying to force its way in; bolts of electricity jumped out from the crash area while the whole dome became visible, with steaks of electricity travelling across the whole of it; alarms began to blare across the deck as well.

"Ridiculous! We are more than 4 kilometers away from the shore! How can something cover that distance at such high speeds? And it is not a missile, either!" Yamato Man gasped.

"This is bad. The Dimensional Area generators aren't calibrated to withstand such an overload! I'll have no choice but to turn them off else we risk them exploding and starting fires inside of the auxiliary engine room of _Purgatory_!" Zero hissed over the radio; shrilling alarms could be heard on his end of the line.

"Alright! We'll try to keep the thing, whatever it is, busy! Send all reinforcements you can!" Freeze Man replied.

The three of them took battle postures as the "Dimensional Area" was cancelled; the object crashed into the deck, leaving a crater on it, before it stood up to face them.

"A robot?"

The attacker was a robot about two meters tall that had the general shape of a man yet it was covered in black armor: instead of a face it had a laser gun mounted there and it also had a Vulcan gun (the real deal) set on the right arm's end plus a chainsaw on the left one: the legs above the knees contained missile launchers which also existed on the shoulders.

"T-that's… "Infinitum"! The "battle body" designed by Spiral, a Shadow Nova executive!" Zero gasped.

"What!"

"Damn it. One of those two has stolen it from the Sweden Police! And refurbished it!"

The robot opened the missile launches and began to shoot a salvo of missiles at them: Freeze Man calmly chilled the air and shot ice spears towards them while Pharaoh Man hovered and formed a laser beam on his forehead which he used to cut through them; Yamato Man in the meanwhile had circled around the robot and tried to attack its back but the Vulcan gun turned 180 degrees and began to fire at Yamato Man, who had to duck and take cover behind one of the nearby buildings; the robot ignited two jets on the underside to hover and began to shoot another salvo of missiles around the area.

"Damn. We must stop it soon or it'll lay ruin to _Purgatory_! It wasn't designed to have battles atop its deck!" Freeze Man growled.

"And if that wasn't enough, this thing has a bubble-shaped shield which it uses to protect itself when it's displacing!" Zero grumbled.

"Sonic Boom!"

Legato appeared in the scene and shot several Sonic Booms at the robot to catch its attention; it turned towards Legato as he stood atop the southern handrails but suddenly stopped and seemed to reconsider its next move; it instead headed south along the deck; Legato cursed and warped to give chase along with the others; they formed a row in front of it and began to shoot their attacks at it only to be absorbed by the bubble-shaped shield and shot back as bolts of lightning.

"Shit! They've improved its shielding!" Legato cursed.

"The question is… Is someone riding on it? Or has it been reformed to be an unmanned unit?" Freeze Man pondered.

"It's emitting jamming so we can't properly scan it by IR, either! So we can't deny the possibility!" Legato hissed.

"Devil."

The robot suddenly materialized a railgun that began to load so they all jumped out of its path as it turned on the rear boosters and headed towards the end of the deck.

"It's trying to blow up the main door?" Yamato Man gasped.

"Even if it did, it's too narrow for it to be able to get inside! Wait! Maybe it wants to trap us by breaking the elevator!"

"But there's emergency stairs, no?" Freeze Man asked.

"Of course there are, but maybe the thing or whoever is piloting it is dumb enough to think it's the only way to move between decks."

"Hey, Legato! What's all this fuss? Pirates or what?" Tozukana asked over his radio.

"You could say so! A damned piece of junk that can bite! Stay in your room! Humans are no match for this thing!" He growled back.

"Yikes! O-OK!"

"Same for you, Felix! There's no armor-piercing ammunition onboard _Purgatory_ so you can't use your rifle against it! Gotcha?"

"Roger." Qong drily replied.

"Sorry for the wait! We had to leave Viruses as lookouts! Take tape!"

"Shah, shah, shah! Eat needle barrage!"

"Burn! Eat flames!"

"Eat sonic waves!"

Video Man, Needle Man, Burner Man and Shade Man joined the fray; they tried attacking from different angles at the same time and it did the shield flicker; Legato and the others joined in too to attack it at once; the shield flickered further before it shut down; a device on the right shoulder switched its green light for a blinking red one.

"I see! If it tries to absorb too many attacks, there's a possibility that the generator will overload so it must cooldown!"

"Chance!"

Yamato Man warped and dropped from above to try to plunge his spear into the head; it shattered upon contact and the robot swung the arm with the Vulcan gun to knock Yamato Man off it; it aimed all guns at him but he warped away before they could fire; the robot fired nevertheless and the attacks headed for him; Yamato Man hissed and formed a stone statue of himself as he dropped down from atop one of the buildings; the attacks shattered the statue.

"It's got tracking abilities!" Legato grumbled.

"Lovely." Freeze Man hissed.

Video Man shot the roll of tape at it from the front; the robot used the railgun to intercept it but then a volley of metallic needles rained down on it, some getting stuck on different parts of the body before causing small explosions; Burner Man used the chance to close it and shoot its burners at the chest plate to try to cut through the metal; Shade Man shot sonic waves at it from above to disorient it as well.

"Huh? Oh come on." Zero grumbled.

"What?" Legato asked.

"Turns out this whole thing is being transmitted live by the DNN!"

"What!"

"I guess the culprits tipped them off and they've sent a drone to film this above… If you see it, do NOT attack it! Ignore it! I don't like the prospect but we can't get in the way of "freedom of press"…"

"Roger!"

"By the way, where's Slur-sama?" Freeze Man asked.

"Went to see XY. They're like siblings so it's natural Her Grace likes to go and engage in long debates with him…" Legato replied.

"But she's probably heard the news of the commotion and is probably heading back here as we speak." President Hades added.

"Understood, sir!"

"Sir? Permission for a sortie?" Andy asked over the radio.

"Hmmm… Not yet, Mr. Andy. I suspect this robot is trying to accumulate data on us. I would prefer that it does not grasp much of your abilities, and even less of the "Ryuusei Form"… Least the enemy develop some countermeasures to it." Hades decided.

"Understood, sir."

"All other Navis; remain on standby. We might need you in case this thing proves to be harder to defeat than we thought."

"Roger!" Several voices replied.

"Did you think it'd be so easy?" Judge Man's voice suddenly echoed from the robot.

"I knew it! It had to be you!" Legato growled.

"Of course! Spiral did us a favor building this thing. I will be making good use of it!" He gloated.

"You lowlife… What are you up to?"

"Hmpf! Maybe to prove I can use the CPU. Your precious boss and her brother were so full of that a while ago, saying we had no imagination and so on… I will prove them wrong!" He laughed.

"Sheesh." Legato grumbled.

"Annoyed? Complain to your master." He taunted.

"Like I'd do! It's an unexpected side-effect, that's all there's to it! And now go broom the room!"

"Hmpf. You will soon be turned into raw data! Such is the sentence for "defiance" in my rules!"

"Save me the tyrant speech."

"Tyrant! Me! How dare you, you commoner!"

"Commoner? There's no class system in the Cyber World. You've been watching too much epic medieval movies." Legato shot back.

"Where's Element Man?" Freeze Man demanded.

"That clown? I turned him into raw data. I was fed up with them making me look like I was an incompetent!" He laughed.

"Somehow, I doubt it."

"What?"

"Maybe you thought you had defeated him but maybe it was but a fantasy you came up with to escape reality?" Freeze Man taunted.

"Why, you…! Enough games! Darkness Trigger!"

"What!"

A burst of purple energy surrounded the robot; it suddenly turned on the chainsaw and swung it towards Burner Man who quickly jumped backwards to dodge it; the railgun was replaced for a laser gun and it shot a thick and powerful purple laser towards a blast door at the end of the deck; it got deflected by an invisible "Dimensional Area" and shot back at the robot, which used the chainsaw as an improved shield to take in the blast; the impact blew up the chainsaw but since all energy dispersed upon impact, the robot's main body was unaffected; it simply switched the broken arm for an RPG missile launcher; Needle Man, however, shot a long and thing metallic spike at its warhead, blowing it up before it could fire and taking out the whole launcher.

"By all the… When did you…?" Judge Man growled.

"I realized that my wooden needles weren't that effective so I changed into them metallic needles." He shrugged.

"I think I understand what it's trying to do! It's trying to break the door so that Judge Man can get inside!" Legato realized.

"But hadn't we removed the data on "materialization factors" from him time ago?" Zero asked.

"True. XY did. Unless…" Legato recalled.

"Hah! Fools! We kept backups hidden there and there! Ah! By the way, the spare bodies thing… It was something I set up to reinforce the pretense that Void was alive!" He laughed.

"Thought so. From what I've heard Regal denied having commissioned those to begin with."

"Hmpf! The man was but a clown but at least provided with a good distraction to give me time to ready things!"

"And did you think we didn't foresee the possibility of an intruder getting in through the main entrance?" Hades shot back.

"What?" Judge Man gasped.

"We have reserve forces inside, anti-materialization jammers, wall-shaped Dimensional Areas, armored doors…"

"Damn it! So the info Void had stolen from the Public Safety Police's illegal operation was incomplete?" He growled.

"More like we altered it to fool people like you into thinking this ship had a major weakness."

"Damn it! Hades! Go back to the Hades you came from!"

"Charmed." He drily replied.

"Grrrr! Whatever! I'll slaughter you all!"

"You alone? Against over 10 Navis? Do you think you can stand up to the power of our ace-in-the-hole?" Hades challenged.

"Ace…? Damn it! Andy is onboard. Wasn't the brat on a mission in New Zealand following the red herrings I left behind?"

"I think you're mixing up persons. I know young Kuroban sent some of his men there but I have not sent anyone there. Are you unable to tell his men apart from ours?" Hades chuckled.

"Sheesh."

"You haven't improved much, have you?"

"Silence! Defiant!"

"Using uncommon words does not make you smarter."

"Shit!"

"Slur-sama!"

Slur appeared on the deck, landing gracefully; she swung her arms forward and some almost invisible wires tangled around the limbs of the robot; she crossed her arms as she pulled them, violently forcing the limbs to close and making the robot lose its balance and drop to the ground on its left side, crushing the Vulcan gun under its own weight; she quickly let go of the strings and drew her yellow blade which she stabbed into the shield generator, disabling it.

"What happened to the diversionary force?" He growled.

"Diversionary force? You mean that army of mass-produced freakish things. _Regenerador_, was it? Creepy sure it was but it was but data; I simply triggered their self-delete." She shrugged.

"The _Regenerador_? Those things from _Biohazard 4_? They sure were a pain to deal with." Legato muttered.

"You always tend to forget something. They might be a terrifying foe in the games, since you are bound by the game's rules but… Taken out of context, no game enemies really pose a threat for Navis specialized in combat like us." Freeze Man pointed out.

"Like those "out of context" Twitter accounts." Needle Man chuckled.

"Damn them all."

There was a sudden flash and when it cleared the robot was gone save for pieces that had broken or fallen off it during the battle; the Navis tensely looked around.

"Do not lower the guard! It could be a tactic to make us think we have won but it wants to attack again…"

"This is Tom. The culprit snuck into our room. Permission to engage in battle with it." Tom reported.

"Permission granted. However, your goal is to keep it busy. I am heading over there." Slur replied.

"Acknowledged."

"What! A serial assassin? Excellent. I have more material to leak to the media! You will be destroyed by the society you try so hard to protect! I'm a genius!" Judge Man gloated.

"Ever heard of "cosplay", airhead? I'm simply cosplaying a mix of Vamp and Krauser." Tom drily shot back.

"What? Oh damn it!"

"What happened to your earlier guts? _Gone with the wind_? To _Casablanca_, maybe?" He sneered.

Slur was already flying across the port side of _Purgatory_ and spotted Tom and Judge Man fighting inside of a room; she simply formed her strings, which she shot at Judge Man, coiling around him, and pulled him outside of the room to toss him against the surface of the sea.

"Grugha!"

"Game over." She calmly announced.

She suddenly gasped and let go of the strings to fly upwards and dodge a blast from a railgun; she turned around and spotted the robot they had been battling hovering over the sea and aiming its guns at her; she scowled and flew towards it.

"Sink into the ocean." She drily muttered.

When she got closer, though, she realized that there only was the railgun there and that the rest of the robot was but a hologram, so she snarled and turned around but Judge Man was nowhere to be seen.

"Zero!" She called out.

"Roger!"

New "Dimensional Area" walls formed shielding both the port and starboard sides of _Purgatory_; Slur then spotted a silhouette standing atop the central tower.

"Found you."

She shot towards there dodging shots from the railgun; Judge Man was carrying it and trying to attack Slur with it; someone dropped in behind Judge Man and quickly tackled him into the ground.

"That's as far as you come, book man."

"Damn it! The Andy brat!"

"I'm no brat. You're the brat."

Andy was the one keeping Judge Man pinned to the ground as Slur reached the tower and landed in the ground.

"Enough games." She hissed.

"Huh? Ah! Slur-sama, behind you!"

"What? Reinforcements?"

She spun around to deflect a big sphere of energy colored in a shade of orange or red; the sphere bounced back at the origin but the new attacker shot it back again while making it bigger; Slur quickly drew a red circle with her right hand and turned into a portal to the Cyber World; a beam of energy shot out and hit the sphere, making it explode and disperse its energy across the air; Andy suddenly yelped as a metallic black disk closed around his neck and some needles on the inner side stabbed his neck.

"Guah! What… What's this?"

"My name is Grahf. Chaser of power. Do thou whish for power?"

"What?"

"Oh shit. Grahf of all ones!" Kage cursed over the radio.

"… My fists are the breath of God! Make the "fallen seeds" bloom, and spin out the hidden power! The power of the beautiful mother of destruction!"

"Uwaaahhh!"

Red energy travelled across Andy as he clutched his head; Judge Man used the distraction to flee because Slur was trying to break the disk on Andy's neck with her bare hands despite the electricity travelling across her arms and her body; some thump sounds, similar to heartbeats, began to ring out as Andy's chest emblem began to flash in a red color.

"Override! Password: "Defending Sealing Swords of Light"!" She called out aloud.

There was a buzz sound and she gasped as Andy's emblem suddenly began to generate a reddish and blackish light that wrapped around him, creating a mass similar to a cocoon.

"Cannot be helped!"

She formed the portal again and pulled both of them into the Cyber World, within a deserted area; once there she opened yet another portal and warped them somewhere else; she created an invisible dome around them as she got into a battling stance.

"This power is MINE! I am the Light that will guide the world into a new age! Such is the fate of the "contactor"!" Andy's distorted voice growled from within the cocoon.

"That fool! What a catastrophe they started. But fortunately I had contingencies ready years ago were something like this to ever happen."

"UGRROOAHHH!"

The cocoon suddenly exploded, dispersing its energy, but Slur was unfazed as she stared at what emerged from within it.

"This is the true power of the Ryuusei Form!"

Andy's new form had an "advanced" look to it yet it also looked terrifying.

The helmet's design was rather peculiar because it wasn't a full helmet to begin with: the sides of it had two gray metallic shapes the form of which was slightly reminiscent of the Alphabet "L" character: a fluorescent green incision had been cut in the part adjacent to the face while the larger segments had a yellow-colored incision cut into it.

The segment covering the head was built using a blackish material and could be divided in four sections: the centermost, built like a triangle aiming south also covered the forehead: it ended over the nose.

The western and eastern sections of the head's protection had been shaped after diamonds aiming NW and NE plus having green fluorescent material running down the sides to join with the "L" shapes.

The rearmost piece was a mere curved segment connecting the lateral pieces.

A gray metallic triangle was drawn on the middle of the head from where a black-colored fin emerged: the fluorescent green line divided it into two unequal portions: front and rear, and the rear one was painted gray.

Andy's hair came out of behind the helmet given how it was a "partial protection" model.

Red thick shades covered the eyes and nose plus a small grayish metallic piece of armor was built to protect his chin and lower jaw: the skin over his neck was black in color.

Andy's eyes, visible under the transparent red shades, displayed a total lack of emotion and they surprisingly had switched to a mix of red and blue as if to display his current "Full Synchro" status.

The chest area had a metallic spheroid protruding out of it and a green-colored incision had been cut on the middle of it.

The upper front half was colored in a white-like color while the rear upper half was black: however, the whole lower half had chosen gray as color to be used: the piece of armor below it and connecting to the rest of the body had the same color.

The armor's colors were combined in the rest of the body below the chest segment: the flanks of the body had grey armor with green fluorescent edges while the central part of the body was tinted in pitch-black color.

Regarding his arms' design, a black piece of armor covered the shoulders, which were encompassed by metallic spheroids: these spheroids were not "complete" spheroids.

That was because they had a cavity from where the arms emerged: a thin fluorescent green circular line was placed close to the upper edge where the armor was colored in black color and formed a dome with a hole at the topmost part of each spheroid.

The inner edge of each spheroid was colored yellow: these spheroids also had an indentation signaling the separation between each half.

His arms' skin was black in coloring while the armor built over his wrists was painted using two colors: black for the upper half and gray for the lower half: a small thin piece of armor emerging from the upper half and shaped like the Alphabet "L" character turned 90º to the right was also present there: the hands' skin was also colored using black coloring.

The legs' armor, however, included two shapes which were a pair of combined cones (fused and aiming up and down) colored metallic gray.

They were set in a green cavity extending from the hips to past the knees.

The colors then split as the outer edge of each leg was colored in gray armor while the inner edge were colored black: a green fluorescent line marked the division between them: the lines then drew another cavity which included gray metallic armor plating inside of it.

The feet armor was split in rear and front halves respectively colored black and metallic gray: a fin formed on the front half and it had a green fluorescent line crossing it on its front.

Two discs having an external black edge, an inner thin yellowish edge and a red dome built on the core were set on the upper ends of the shoulder-mounted-pieces: yellowish energy emanated from them and made them look powerful and imposing.

Lastly, two extensions came out from behind the body, which happened to be black-colored frames supporting reddish wings, which were made of energy flowing from the shorter starting section to the larger outwards section.

The whole thing was glowing with a crimson and black aura and it emitted a pressure around the zone.

"BLACK END GALAXY!"

Andy lifted his hands and formed a small spheroid of blackish energy, which he then dropped behind Slur: it suddenly grew into a large black hole which began to suck everything around it but Slur was unaffected by the pull.

"RAAAHHHH!"

Andy drew a reddish blade on his right forearm and boosted on forward cutting the air where the foe was at and opening a large wound on his upper chest: he quickly flew past the black hole, which collapsed and the shockwave originating from its implosion hit Slur but she didn't yield either despite the visible damage she sustained.

"RED GAIA ERASER!"

The disks hovering inches from the shoulders flew into the air and then assumed inclined positions aiming diagonally towards Slur: they produced continuous streams of reddish energy which travelled across the ground drawing the Alphabet "X" character; Slur was damaged but she didn't yield either: Andy then formed a red beam which he shot straight at her; a gigantic dome-shaped explosion spread on the spot and wrecked a large part of the floor just as lighting began to return to show a crater easily ten meters wide and three deep and filled with the debris; Slur simply hovered above it, damaged but still unfazed.

"GRUH! GUWHA! GHAHAHGJ!" Andy growled something undecipherable as energy began to flow out of the form.

The "cocoon" formed again and the energy flew back inside before Andy returned to his normal form; he dropped to the ground facedown as the disk unlocked itself and dropped to the ground; Slur quickly wrapped her strings around it and closed it within a data cube protected by an energy bubble.

"Mademoiselle? Are you alright?" Hades asked over the radio.

"Somewhat."

"What about Mr. Andy?"

"The device making him go berserk ran out of power. I have retrieved it. As programmed, his transformation cancelled after unleashing his two main attacks. While the output had increased considerably, it could not bring out the whole of it because he was not in "Full Synchro" with his Operator. There was also a failsafe. I designed it so that its energy would be partly absorbed by me so I would actually "heal" with each attack. I did suffer some damage to my skin but it is of no consequence." She reported to him as she crouched next to Andy.

"Somehow, that looked too complicated for it being part of Judge Man's or Element Man's plans… Didn't you have that feeling?"

"True. I did feel the fear in Judge Man before he fled. If it had been part of his plans, he would have been feeling arrogant. However, this was not the case. I felt a fear that reached deep inside." Slur agreed with him.

"Yes. That kind of fear cannot be "pretended". It was a natural reaction, not some pretense… Which means that that subject who caused this mess is a third party… Sheesh. Just when we were satisfied at catching Dr. Regal after all these years…"

"Indeed. I will bring him back to _Purgatory_. Speaking of which. Did that stupid piece of junk strike again?"

"No. Nothing else's happened but I'm keeping the men on standby."

"Wise move."

"Are you alright, Slur?"

"Ah. XY. You heard the news?"

XY had rushed over there, looking both worried and afraid, for once, and like he was out of breath.

"How is he like?"

"He is just exhausted. He was forced to use the "Ryuusei Form" against his will so it obviously drained his energies."

"I see. I heard some odd masked man appeared?"

"Yes. I think Kage recognized that man… What was it? Grahf?"

"Grahf? Talk about a coincidence. Those two are playing a game in which such a character appears." XY muttered.

"Anyway. I shall bring Andy back to _Purgatory_ at once. I did deploy a "noise ring" to fool the sensors into thinking nothing was happening here… As for the drone filming us, the energy release probably interfered with its systems so they could not see anything."

"Drone? Whose?"

"The DNN. Judge Man tipped them off about how he was going to assault us with that robot thing." Slur grumbled.

"I see."

"But it is not like I did not foresee such a thing to eventually happen to begin with so…"

"As expected."

Slur waved her right arm and warped Andy away as she sighed in relief, for once, and so did XY.

"Take this with you."

"Is this the tool in question?"

"Indeed."

Slur handed him the disk that she had seized and XY lifted it a bit to have a good look at it.

"Alright. I will analyze it on my lab. The location is cut off from all incoming and outgoing signals so it cannot be remotely self-deleted either. Maybe it would be best if you pretended to have it." He suggested.

"That was what I planned to do, anyway. To be a decoy and lure the culprit's attention towards us…"

"But if it is not Judge Man or Element Man or Doctor Regal… Who is it? Someone new to the fray?" XY wondered.

"Feels like it. Judge Man claimed to have deleted Element Man but it felt like a lie. I would not be surprised if Element Man attempted something next. Maybe a similar stunt but using the Cyber World version of the robot to attack an Internet City…" Slur warned.

"Good point. I shall deploy my agents to keep watch. I would not be too surprised if it turns out to be in Bangkok Internet City. Ah, yes. I have been keeping an eye on Colonel but the factory settings reset has been successful and now he behaves rationally. Barrel told the others to pretend "that person" never existed." He reported.

"Alright. If he shalt not get in our way then I could not care less. What about Search Man and his Operator?"

"From the info I have collected, the CO has put pressure on the Operator warning him that saying pointless things might mean civilians getting endangered and people dying. Of course the man was terrified and will very likely never say anything about it to anyone."

"Good. Then there is no need to interfere over there, then. Let things flow naturally… Just keep a watch from time to time. That man's arrogance might eventually overcome his fear."

"You have a point. I shall do so." XY nodded in agreement.

"I will go back and see what Andy's status is."

"Understood. I will send Refraction to collect the report from you while I begin analyzing this device."

Slur nodded in agreement, as she used her "portals" to return to _Purgatory_ and appeared in the main real world corridor in front of a door labelled "Kage Miquel and Andy"; she pressed the interphone's button.

"Ah! Slur-sama. I will open at once." Kage replied.

The door buzzed and Slur pressed it open; Kage's room was the same as Kuroshiro's although some decorations were slightly different there and there; Kage was standing next to the bed where Andy was resting, wearing black pajamas, socks and slippers.

He didn't have sunglasses so one could see that his irises were blue.

"How is he like?" She asked him.

"For the time being he's simply sleeping. Legato came over and ran a battery of tests but no vital systems seem to be affected or damaged. For safety reasons he added another two security passwords to the "Ryuusei Program"…" He reported.

"Good. Did you feel any odd symptoms on your part?"

"At first I felt like Andy was trying to forcibly start "Full Synchro" with me and I was trying to… Well, to "refuse"… Fortunately since he was warped pretty far away, the effects vanished at once."

"Thought so. That is the reason why I did so. What about the drone? Did it finally leave?"

"Yes. Legato called out to it and said we'd complain to the Net Police for intrusion of privacy so better ready some lawyers… Because the Net Police will come complain to them. Fortunately, it'd seem that Grahf's appearance caused jamming to be emitted and the drone was unable to film what happened… By the time the drone began to work normally, it looked like the battle had ended so…"

"Good. I suspected so but I wanted confirmation. Knowing Superintendent Oda, he will show them his "anger modes"…"

"Obviously." Kage shrugged.

"Good. I think that, in theory, he will not remember what happened tonight. That hostile program probably shut down his normal consciousness by force and imposed its own. It was programmed to self-delete to begin with so it should have not left any trace. To be on the safe side, I will ask XY to drop over and do a better scan."

"Understood."

"If you notice anything unusual during training, normal routine or when using "Full Synchro"… Tell Legato or me at once. Even if you think it is something trivial." She commanded.

"Roger."

"Make sure he does not blame himself either. It is an unforeseen event, understood?"

"Of course, Slur-sama."

"Good. I will leave you two to rest. I need to talk with President Hades about our next steps. Apart from chasing the two fugitives, that is. The appearance of this unknown factor will complicate things."

"Undoubtedly. We should be careful they do not attempt to pull the same stunt on other Navis, too."

"You are right. I did not consider that. It is very likely, true."

Slur nodded at Kage, who nodded in return and she hovered out of the door, closing the door behind her; she sighed and looked around the deserted corridor as it to make sure no one was looking.

"Zero. Tell me where that character appears at."

"A game called _Xenogears_. That's where, Boss."

"Good. I guess I will have to study it to know what they can do. First, I need to talk to President Hades. Over."

_An unknown factor. How annoying indeed. You will regret it, you fool…_


	12. Chapter 12: Heart of steel

**Chapter 12: Heart of steel**

07:29 AM (Moscow Time), Sunday April 23rd…

"… Did you call for me, sir?"

"I did. Sit down, Laika."

"Yes, sir."

"Pay attention, Search Man. This involves you too."

"Yes, sir. Command me, sir."

Laika stepped into his CO's, Malenkov's, room and he sat down in a chair; Malenkov also addressed Search Man.

"I have gotten a warning from the Japanese Net Police. There's some odd criminal aiming to turn Navis berserk."

"Is that so, sir?"

"Yes. That's why I wanted to ask… Search Man! Did you delete the data I ordered you to delete?"

"Yes, sir. As you commander, sir. Here is the log, sir."

"Good."

"I see, sir. You feared that the criminal might try to steal that data from Search Man, sir? But how would they know about it, sir?" Laika asked as he frowned.

"There's been some powerful hacking into their databases. There must've been a copy of the complaints they had about your behavior. Maybe the culprit put two and two together." Malenkov replied.

"I see, sir."

"Alright, Laika… You haven't told anyone apart from Search Man about your "suspicions", have you?"

"No, sir. As you ordered, I have kept it a secret. And Search Man has deleted the data he recorded, sir."

"Good. Remember, many persons' safety and lives could be at a stake. I hope you don't blurt anything uncalled for, else… You will have to face the wrath of the families of those persons." Malenkov warned.

"Y-yes, sir. I am aware of it, sir." Laika gulped.

"Especially taking into account you started the mess."

"Yes, sir. I am aware of it, sir."

"I hope you are."

"Y-yes, sir… As you command, sir…" He began to sweat.

"You lost a battle. What of it? It's not like you could've done anything before that amount of power. Especially when you neglected training for years." He reminded him.

"Y-yes, sir. I know, sir."

"Did you ever "hint" at what you'd "found out" to others?"

"No, sir. I merely passed it off as a stupid wild chase due to paranoia… That I made a fool of myself, sir…"

"Good. Then nobody will care about it, then."

There was the sound of an explosion from Search Man's end as alarms blared to life; Malenkov wasn't too surprised while Laika nervously looked around as trying to get a grasp.

"Intruder in the Cyber World! A powerful plasma blast broke through the firewalls! An unidentified Net Navi has intruded!"

"Uraaahhh! Be gone~!" Someone roared.

"Guwaahhhh!"

"Go, Search Man!"

"Yes, sir! By your command, sir!"

"Laika! Get a hold of yourself! Operate Search Man and deal with the intruder! It's probably the criminal I was warning you about!"

"R-roger, sir!"

Search Man rushed through the areas and reached the main lobby where several Soldier Navis were shooting at a figure that moved very fast and seemed to jump close to Navis to attack them with claws; the figure could be close to 2 meters in height and had a humanoid shape.

"Scope Gun!"

Search Man took aim and began to shoot several shots at the attacker; the attacked roared and rushed for Search Man, who simply dropped a Stone Cube atop the attacker to pin him to the floor.

"Hey, isn't that Mumukah from _Xenoblade_?" Laika recognized.

"Another game character, huh? The info I was given said the criminal took on the shape of game characters. It's probably the same criminal. Be careful, Search Man! Watch your back!"

"Roger, sir! There! Freeze Bullet!"

Search Man quickly turned around to shoot a Freeze Bullet at the black disc that had attached to Andy the other day; it was frozen and it dropped into the ground; Search Man quickly formed a Dream Aura around himself and jumped away as he heard the whine of a cannon loading; a blast of plasma shot through the spot he'd been at, destroying the stone cube and freeing the character known as "Mumukah"; he made a psychotic face as he readied his claws.

"I always intended to backstab you to begin with!" He roared and laughed in a psychotic way.

"No wonder." Laika wasn't surprised.

"He's playing phrases out of context, huh?" Malenkov guessed.

"Yes, sir. It's probably pre-programmed and has no AI save for the basic battling AI." Search Man deduced.

"Is that all?" The foe taunted.

"Of course not. Go, Search Man! Mugen Vulcan!"

"Roger, sir! Eat this!"

"Die~!"

Mumukah rushed towards Search Man as he shot the Mugen Vulcan; he met the attack straight on and the salvo made him recoil; Search Man warped and reappeared closer to him while having readied his Scope Gun; he placed the muzzle on the chest.

"Zero-range shot!"

"Mugroh!"

The shot pierced through the body, damaging the core program, and causing Mumukah to wince in pain; he erratically stepped back as if he was going to drop on his back but suddenly stopped and chuckled as new data suddenly materialized and repaired both the core and his torso; his skin seemed to grown in thickness too.

"Auto-repairs! So it's not a use and throw pawn." Laika muttered.

"Looks like it's not."

"Heh, heh, heh. Is that all? Hero?" Mumukah taunted.

"Who knows?" Search Man was unfazed.

"As long as I can see that guy's painful death…"

"Yeah, yeah. Save us your stupid boasts." Laika grumbled.

"So they're pawns of the "jerk" we're gonna go see, huh? How annoying! Be gone~!" He roared as he dashed forward again.

"Freeze Bullet!"

Search Man shot at the ground to make it freeze and Mumukah immediately began to slip across the ground, out of control, until he crashed into a stone wall that had formed there, getting partly embedded into it; Search Man threw some Search Grenades that attached to Mumukah's back and detonated, weakening his skin's rear armor; Search Man switched ammunition for armor-piercing rounds and shot.

"Mugroh!"

The two bullets pierced through him while Search Man drew a Samurai Sword and stabbed it into the back, piercing through the skin and getting stuck into a layer protecting the core program; Search Man quickly detached it as he jumped away and put some distance; Mumukah chuckled as he pushed himself out of the wall and turned around while using his left hand to pull out the sword and switch to his right hand while his psychotic grin furthered.

"Like that'll work on me!" He boasted.

"I wonder about that." Search Man drily replied.

"Mugroh!"

Something suddenly stabbed Mumukah from behind again and this time it did pierce through the core program and emerge from the front; a new Samurai Blade became visible and its hilt opened to reveal a detonator built in; Search Man simply aimed the Scope Gun at it and shot at the detonator; an electrical current surged from within the blade and expanded within Mumukah's body; he howled and clutched the wound while Search Man calmly formed a Satellite Laser which he shot in combination with his Scope Gun; both attacks made the core program blow up; Mumukah roared.

"It can't end here~!" He roared.

The explosion took him out and Search Man looked around for the disc he'd frozen a while ago; it was gone, which didn't surprise him, and began looking around for it when he noticed a huge shadow about to drop on his position; he warped away to dodge as Mumukah's "Face" unit dropped there and directed its menacing glare at Search Man yet he wasn't too impressed; the unit had a huge spear on its right hand which it flung towards Search Man but he easily dodged as it got stuck on the floor; Search Man jumped atop it and ran it up to then jump at the unit and ride on its back; he placed the muzzle atop the head.

"Zero-range shot!"

The shot pierced through the head from top to bottom and the unit stopped working; Search Man looked around and spotted "Grahf", silently standing a meter behind him and looking up at him while crossing his arms.

"That's it. That's the form I was told about." Malenkov warned.

"Be careful, Search Man! It might try to reactivate that machine to make you struggle!" Laika warned.

"Roger, sir."

Search Man quickly formed a Samurai Blade and forced open the "cockpit" of the unit, which was empty; he formed a copy of himself which he put in the seat as the cockpit closed and the real one turned invisible to hide; the unit stood up and turned to aim its plasma gun at Grahf who remained silent and immobile; the plasma cannon shot and Grahf's body was blown to pieces; the machine suddenly jolted as a reddish light formed around it and it began to shake and swipe its claws around.

"Expected as much." Laika muttered.

"Look out for that "disc" thing that was flying around, Search Man! Don't remove the Dream Aura unless you can make sure the area is safe and the enemy has been defeated or forced to flee!"

"Roger, sir! There it is! Freeze Bullet!"

Search Man spotted the disc coming for him and froze it again before retrieving it and warping it elsewhere; he began to warp at random to confuse the berserk "Face" unit as it shot at random and swung the claws across, leaving scars in the ground.

"It's about time."

There was a whine sound before an energy outburst happened within the cockpit and turned into a fireball that began to engulf the whole "Face" unit until nothing was left behind; Grahf landed on the ground with the arms crossed and slightly tilted the neck left and right as if searching for something; Search Man closed on him from behind.

"Freeze Bullet!"

He froze Grahf on the spot but it turned out to be a hologram so Search Man quickly scanned around and wasn't surprised to see tons of copies of Grahf surrounding him; he simply shot a Satellite Laser at his own shadow and there was a groan of pain; Search Man aimed his gun backwards and shot there to shatter a camouflage device and reveal the real one which was clutching its head.

"Your own jamming gives you away."

"Hmpf. For an inferior Network Navigator, you really can keep those needless emotions out of the way." "Grahf" dully replied.

"Oh, yes? Inferior? Me? Who decided that? You?" He didn't beat an eyebrow.

"That sounds like pride to me." Malenkov added.

"What?"

"You talk about emotions getting the way. Well then, isn't pride an emotion too? Doesn't it get in your way? Weren't you feeling confident, sure that you'd never be found? Feeling prideful at hiding and not doing anything useful?" He taunted next.

"Watch that tongue, you useless lifeform!"

"Now you believe you're Skynet."

"I do not have ANYTHING to do with that defective creation." Grahf was getting annoyed.

"See? You're getting annoyed. Which means that you're but a hypocrite to begin with. Trying to teach lessons to others? You're not very convincing, you know? Grahf or whatever your name is."

"Hmpf. Fine. Enough pretenses, then!"

"What do you want? Eliminate the humans?" Search Man questioned.

"No. I am only a watcher. My duty is to watch."

"Watch? For what?"

"For how you evolve like, Network Navigators. Least you become a threat to other life-forms."

"Huh? You mean that you're hinting at Net Navis wanting to rebel against the humans?" Laika frowned.

"… Interpret that as you see fit, inferior life-forms."

"If we're such inferior life-forms, why waste the time chatting to us to begin with? Maybe you're actually BORED?"

"I am beyond such concepts!"

"See? That's pride again."

"Nonsense!"

"It's called "common sense". Which you seem to lack. Maybe you're like that "Void" robot, believing itself to be a masterpiece or that Dr. Regal was a God." Malenkov dully taunted.

"Watch your tongue! You shall regret such affronts!"

"Oh yes? You're royalty now? Do you believe yourself a deity? Or maybe you're but some spoiled kid?"

"CHILD? ARE YOU CALLING ME CHILD? HOW DARE YOU! YOU ARE THE CHILDREN! DESTROYING ANYTHING THAT GETS IN YOUR WAY AND THUS ACCELARATING YOUR OWN DEMISE!" Grahf got pissed off.

"Possibly. We're so stupid, after all." Malenkov was hardly impressed and he shrugged his shoulders.

Grahf growled something undecipherable as his eyes glowed red and made a violent gesture with the right hand as if wanting to say "I'm going to cut off your neck" to Search Man but he was hardly impressed at his antiques to begin with; Grahf snarled and jumped into the air to form a spheroid of orange energy which he flung at Search Man yet he calmly jumped backwards into the air and shot several shots which met Grahf head-on and momentarily paralyzed him.

"Huh? What is this…? By the stars! Already? Sheesh. What useless templates, they cannot do the most basic of things. I will have to upgrade them!" Grahf suddenly hissed.

He turned into a mass of flames in the shape of a star that collapsed upon itself and released a powerful shockwave that spread the area but Search Man had already returned to the PET so he wasn't caught in the shockwave which peeled off layers off the ground and walls before quelling and dispersing.

"Devil." Laika gasped.

"Flashy." Malenkov drily muttered.

"I am downloading all battle data, sir."

"Good work out there."

"Thank you, sir."

"Who did that guy believe he was?"

"It is but a supposition, but… I believe it was a Net Navi with a lot of ego believing himself to be above all Net Navis and lifeforms. Maybe mixing in clichés from AIs gone berserk and so." Search Man theorized.

"Sounded like it indeed. It's probably some lone wolf who's trying to make a name for himself."

"What did he mean by "templates", though…?" Laika wondered.

"Possibly templates he used to make these game character imitations… That is, basic Net Navis that were applied these "skins"…" Search Man ventured.

"Makes sense. He probably was trying to use them as a means to stall for any reinforcements but they weren't as resistant as he believed they were and so he fled…" Malenkov agreed with it.

"I don't think any reinforcements would be enough to stop someone like that… They'd be wiped out in the blink of an eye. Unless he didn't mean Army reinforcements?" Laika wondered.

"Possibly it might have been either Golden Star or Shunoros, who heard of the commotion and wanted to come catch the man as well. Anyway… Now you see why you must take more care in keeping your mouth shut and not anything uncalled for." Malenkov warned.

"Y-yes, sir. Today's incident has made it clear enough."

"Hmmm… The captured disc has a very complicated encryption. I am able to crack some of it but I find words that do not make sense… And which I cannot find in dictionaries either…" Search Man reported.

"Maybe he's so "brilliant" he made up a language of his own. Fictional languages have always been present in literature after all. So it acts as two-layered security because even if we make it through the encryption, the data is written in a language only he can understand." Malenkov deduced as he rubbed his chin.

"Makes sense, sir. But yes, this object probably attaches to a Navi and forcefully overwrites their RAM to impose a "fake personality" over them and make then run wild while also providing a small boost to their abilities as well…" Search Man analyzed.

"And maybe it was intended to steal data from you. Hence, why he only fought you the whole time and threw so much as you. He was probably aiming to overwhelm you."

"Very likely, sir."

"Good. Do what you can with the analysis but don't feel defeated if you can't make sense out of it."

"Roger, sir."

"As for you, Laika… Remember. Keep you trap shut. It's an order!"

"R-roger, sir! As you command, sir!"

"You're dismissed."

Laika gulped and stood up while saluting before leaving.

_So. What will this criminal do next? Show me your moves…_

12:22 PM (Thailand Time)…

"… Well? Did you find anything new from that weapon you retrieved? XY?"

"Yes, we did. And it is something rather unexpected indeed."

"Does it work as a lead to who was that guy?"

"Yes, it does. Problem is…"

"What's the problem?"

Iris was talking to XY as they walked along a circular path surrounding the outer walls of a dome within the giant city they were in; XY looked concerned while Iris was frowning.

"The language written behind the encryption…"

"Oh yeah. I heard from Refraction. It's a fictional language."

"It was natural for them to draw that conclusion, yet…"

"What. You mean to say that it's not a fictional language, then? It's words assembled out of order through some algorithm? Something like the Enigma machine?"

"Well… Not exactly."

"How unusual of you to hesitate so much about something… Does it have bigger implications than what you initially had?"

"Yes, correct. I am waiting since Master Helios went to check one of those carved messages that you found… He believes the key might be there to understanding something that we might have overlooked."

"I see. So you were waiting for the confirmation."

"Yes. I apologize for being so long-winded… It is just that… The implications are HUGE. Way beyond what we could have imagined at first, assuming it to be WAY SIMPLER…"

"Wait. Are you gonna tell me that…? The home world…?"

"Well… Yes. In a sense, it is related to the home world… But I am not talking about present time…"

"I found it. The confirmation." Helios walked up to them emerging from a door leading inside of the dome.

"So is it indeed like we thought, Master?"

"Excuse me, Father. But I would also like to know what is happening." Geo asked over the radio.

"Well. Do you remember how the other day I talked to Slur and the others about what happened to those of us who arrived at Earth millennia ago? How they wanted to fade? It always bugged me. It felt so… sudden. Because until then we all agreed to lie in wait for Duo to appear and then, having had time to study and analyze its flaws, destroy it before it could destroy more planets…" Helios began.

"Yes, of course."

"Turns out there was a reason why they suddenly began that stupid plan to fade away. It was not their will."

"Huh? What was it, then?" Iris frowned.

"The other space-city here on Earth urged them to do so, saying they had received a message from the Kyutora crew telling them that. Apparently, they found something that made them realize it was "impossible" to stop Duo… Which made no sense. The data they had was the same as us, and we had been examining it to the detail. Nowhere there was anything that could back that up."

"And they accepted their words as being true and they all suddenly lost the will to fight back?" Geo asked.

"Yes. Although I did not know all of this chain of events at the time. I was focused on finding a way to stand up to Duo… That is when I thought of turning myself into a data lifeform."

"We would have to go over all the memory data we have stored in the central computer to remember all details but…" XY began saying.

"I have a vague memory of everyone around us being… Unusually silent. As if, their thoughts were absorbed into something else. Now we understand why… The Kyutora crew and both Earth crews… They were all being brainwashed by an external force!" Helios hissed.

"By the stars! But what kind of external force?"

"We believe it to be some "evil" program that someone in the "Duo faction" slipped into one of the space-cities' central computer during the building of them… Something that wanted to create its own "Utopia" of data lifeforms and since the creators were in the way, brainwashed them into desiring to fade away…" XY described.

"And that's "Grahf", then?"

"Yes. The data Refraction gathered proves it. The encryption system is a very watered down version of the ones used in all of the three central computers… Adapted to the computer logic of Earth. So that it would not seem too unnatural when anyone attempted to decipher it… The words beneath the encryption, though…"

"What were they, Father?"

"Simple. The language our civilization used back on that era. The language that XY and I speak amongst ourselves, and which is used in the stone carvings we found as well as in all of the city's computer system… Our common language." Helios replied.

"I see! That's what it was, then! So the thing's basically saying "this is who am I, surprised?"…"

"Yes. Essentially." XY confirmed.

"We believe its root is in the Kyutora space-city computer… Kuroban and Slur accidentally awakened it when looking up the data contained there about the Duo Project and why we had had to flee from the colonies and such… It used a circuit similar to the one Refraction used to reach Earth from the home world, and probably moved to the other space-city here on Earth taking profit of it being abandoned. It hid its presence for a while as it gathered data on Earth…"

"And now it's decided to act, huh? But what's that thing trying to achieve, anyway?" Iris asked.

"Probably some stupid delusion like Duo was… A world dominated by "logic", by Network Navigators, devoid of needless emotions and moved by mathematical logic…" Helios grumbled.

"In that aspect it is not much different from how our ancestors behaved like, believing they had achieved a society free of emotions and pain and which was ruled by science." Geo pointed out.

"Yes. However, the problem is that that thing does not have any sense of "morality" at all and will do as it pleases… Run wild and so to kill its boredom. That's why it tried to steal Andy's data. Fortunately, thanks to Slur's paranoia, it was unable to do so." XY explained.

"I see. Since it failed on Andy, it sets its eyes on Search Man probably because he's famous for his "heart of steel" and how he's very calm and rational during a battle. Maybe the thing thought they were alike and that is why it tried to "turn" Search Man into its pawn."

"Yes. It probably will begin appearing wherever there is "strong ones" and try to use that device to try to "turn" them into its pawns. But it will probably fail constantly anyway."

"Curious how an alien program decided to grab characters from _Xenogears_ and _Xenoblade_… Maybe it will use _Xenosaga_ characters next as well?" Iris giggled.

"Would not surprise me. Maybe it has been checking on Shunoros and saw that their recently viewed videos were about those games so it began to dig info on them… Since it liked Grahf's design, it assumed it as its own avatar since it probably is a shapeless program at its core… We suspect a big portion of it rooted itself in the other space-city. The issue is that there is already a powerful barrier sealing it and we must find a way to bypass it to try to get inside…" Helios was slightly amused at first but then turned serious again.

"That was obvious. They would not just root there and wait."

"Yes. They will not lay out the red carpet to invite us in. So we will have to be like phantom thieves and find a workaround."

"Interesting use of words, Father."

"Heh. I might not look like but I do like seeing movies and works of fiction as well. I want to understand more about human culture and so I must include those as well." Helios chuckled.

"The sudden increase of population here led us to realize there was no point in pretending to lack emotions anymore. We thought it might make you feel uncomfortable as well." XY admitted.

"I did have that impression as well." Iris admitted

"Oh, yes. Father. Speaking of which, have we found those two Navigators that have gone missing? Or are they still in an unknown location?"

"I had the Four Warriors look into it… Of course, we checked the location you used as base of operations before… Iris. As well as the hideout where "Twilight" kept Kuroshiro imprisoned years ago… They were not in either of those places but they were pretty obvious so…" Helios explained.

"No wonder. They must've found a pretty good place to hide. What about Void's miniature space station?"

"We warped it to the surface and dismantled it." XY replied.

"Gotcha. So they can't be there either."

"It is a matter of time. For now, we should focus on how we deal with this stupid program… Before it causes some tragedy!"

"Do you think it will go to the extremes of destroying the world?"

"If what it said to Search Man is true, then… No. But nevertheless such an arrogant and defective creation cannot be left loose."

"Obviously enough."

"I have the feeling this will be a long campaign indeed…"

_By the stars! That defective piece of logic will regret provoking us!_


	13. Chapter 13: Past heroes

**Chapter 13: Past heroes**

11:03 AM (Japan Time), Monday April 24th…

"… Phew! Break time!"

"Yeah. Let's go have some air."

"Hey, Netto! Did you know?"

"Yes, we all know it."

"Of course."

"Obviously!"

"Huh?"

The break time bell rang out in the Akihara High 1-A classroom and the students began to stand up; Dekao suddenly walked over to Netto and Saito while everyone else rolled their eyes as if expecting the outcome of his "did you know"; Dekao frowned.

"What kind of tale did you make up today?" Netto sighed.

"Probably some tale of would-be-heroism." Saito sighed.

"Sheesh! That's not it! I was remembering when I helped you out back then, when you were trying to find the treasure in that pyramid thing! My combination with Guts Man back then was AMAZING! Wasn't it?" Dekao brought up, laughing.

"Well. It was of help, yeah. Quite helpful." Netto admitted.

"I'm not sure it can qualify as "amazing" though." Saito muttered as he placed his right index finger over his chin.

"Why bring it up now? Did you have nostalgia?" Meiru dully asked him she walked past him.

"Huh! W-well, t-that's…" He began to sweat.

"Because he's finally realized he never properly trained to master the usage of it…" Yaito giggled.

"That doesn't surprise me at all." Hikawa muttered.

"W-well, yeah, but…"

"But?"

"I've got an idea!"

"Lovely." They all sighed.

"I'm gonna dig up the ruins for the treasure!" Dekao suddenly grinned and rubbed his hands together.

"Did you forget? The treasure was the Style Change ability. Although it proved to be too powerful for me to ever be able to properly master it and it became nullified when the "Dark Four Heavenly Kings" launched their attacks…" Netto reminded him.

"Oh crap! I'd forgotten!" Dekao gasped.

"So even if you rummage the stones, you'll find nothing but dust. Or maybe someone was generous and left a coin worth nothing there to laugh at people." Saito added with some sarcasm.

"Wha~t? Who in their common sense would do that?"

"Some spoiled heiress." Meiru glanced at Yaito.

Yaito lost her cherry mood at once and gulped as she began to sweat; the group had made it outside into the main yard by now.

"Glyde! Why did you tell them?" She complained.

"I am sorry, Yaito-sama, but the orders from your father have higher priority than yours, Yaito-sama." Glyde replied.

"Sheesh! Daddy and his suggestions!"

"Guts! Hey, Dekao! Lord Gorilla Man will come today from Arkansas in the 4:44 PM train, guts!" Guts Man reported.

"Oh come on! Guts Man! That's obviously a troll! I suspect it's the handiwork of those "bad kids" from Shunoros." Roll sighed.

"Totally sounds like it, desu."

"Where is the azure hero?" A voice suddenly demanded.

"Azure hero? You mean Rock Man?" Roll wondered aloud.

"Where is the man?"

"Well… Dunno. Guess busy with some mission." Roll shrugged and didn't seem to care.

"Hmpf! So much for what you inferior Network Navigators call "bonds". Is that all there is to them? Lies and deceit? Betrayal?"

"Huh? Oh come on. What's with your CPU? That's not lying, deceiving or betrayal. It's called "I don't need to know that right now". It's common sense, Mr. Anon." Roll fumed.

"I do not see anyone. Where did the voice come from?" Glyde wondered as he apparently looked around.

"Guts! It's gotta be the troublemkaker trio, anyway. Let's ignore them, de guts!" Guts Man encouraged.

"I agree, desu."

"Hmpf. We will now see if you really are beyond salvation or if you still have potential as templates."

"Oh shit." The twins hissed.

"All of you! Watch out! Some weird discs will come flying in! Intercept them with your weapons!" Saito warned.

"It's a terrorist!" Netto warned next.

"What!"

"What!"

"Answer me, inferior Network Navigators! Where is the azure hero? You WILL tell me!"

"We won't, whoever you are. That's not how you ask for info, anyway."

"Guts! This guy has no manners!"

"Hmpf! What need is there for hypocrisy and lies? I shall force you to tell me the actual data!"

Roll, Guts Man, Glyde and Ice Man got into battle poses as "Grahf" appeared in the main hall of the school's Cyber World and demanding to know Rock Man's location.

"I send you guys Dream Aura data! Use it!" Yaito told them.

"OK!"

The Navis engaged the Dream Auras and soon enough the discs came flying for them but hit the barriers and bounced off; Grahf hissed something as he lifted his arms and made them hover again to hit the Navis but they couldn't get past the barriers.

"How can my masterpieces not get past those inferior protective energy fields?" He growled.

"Masterpiece? This piece of junk? Shah, shah, shah. You sure sound like that "Void" rascal, man."

"Video! Or more like a narcissist."

"Burn! Anyway. Our orders are to beat this jerk to a pulp, no need to hold back!"

"What! Reinforcements already? What happened to the energy field I set to isolate this section?"

Needle Man, Video Man and Burner Man appeared on the scene, and Grafh growled at their appearance.

"Heh! There's no point in it… If we're already on standby inside of this area!" Video Man grinned.

"Burn! Heh! You assumed we'd come from the outside? Nope. We knew you'd eventually appear here and waited inside." Burner Man grinned.

"Shah, shah, shah! How about ya give it up, bud?"

"Like I would! You will become my templates!"

"You mean your puppets? Nope. How about you test how effective these things are… on yourself?" Video Man smirked.

Video Man and Needle Man and Guts Man quickly tackled Grahf into the ground while Roll and Burner Man grabbed the discs and closed the around his neck; Grahf roared as energy surged through the body and a burst of red energy emerged in the form of a pillar; however, the body was unable to withstand the power of it and was deleted; none were too surprised.

"Fools! That was but a template!"

"We knew that." Video Man shrugged.

"We weren't expecting it to be easy either."

"Shah, shah, shah. It was like more a little payback."

"Hmpf! If you shall not accept salvation, be destroyed as the inferior data lifeforms you are!"

"Salvation? That's supposed to be salvation? Overwriting Net Navis' personalities and making them run berserk?" Roll skeptically shot back, unimpressed.

"By becoming my templates, your data will be preserved forever and evolved into a superior existence!"

"Oh yeah? Now you believe you're a deity?"

"Yes! I am the ultimate protector deity of data lifeform evolution! You should simply accept salvation!"

"Not interested in being mass-produced as mindless puppets for you to use to harm others! That's not salvation! That's what tyrants do; hurt and kill those who defy them!" Roll hissed.

"Hmpf. How pitiful. Such inferior emotions taking away the ability to make logical decisions instantly…"

"You're one to talk, _Danna_. Gloating about being above emotions but we've heard that Search Man was way more rational than ya. Shah, shah, shah!" Needle Man shot back.

The attacker didn't reply and they tensely searched around; there was a sudden groan along with a frizzle sound.

"Ah! Thought so! The core program was trying to intrude into my PET but the 3-layer security system hampered it." Netto reported as he looked at a warning message displayed from it.

"Inferior lifeform! Where is the azure hero?"

"Why should I tell you? Why would you bother to listen to "inferior lifeforms" to begin with? Can't you search for that by yourself, if you're so superior and all?" Netto shot back.

"Lazier than a bear who spends the winter sleeping in a cave." Saito added with a smirk.

There was yet another groan and a frizzle sound as Saito's PET also gave out the same warning message, but he wasn't impressed.

"You gloat a lot about superior and salvation and whatever but you can't even make it past a simple 3-layer security system." Roll calmly taunted the thing.

The program didn't reply as it kept trying to break into everyone's PETs but failed the whole time.

"Did you think we didn't expect this? Guts?" Guts Man chuckled.

"Slur-dono came over the other day and provided us with this increased security system, suspecting you might attempt this." Glyde explained.

"You're but a hacker, desu." Ice Man wasn't impressed.

"So this is the result of that rebel interfering with salvation…! Once I find the other rebel one and their location, I shall erase them forever from this world! At last!"

"Can you actually do it? You defective residual program."

"Ah! Slur-sama!"

Slur appeared on the scene while crossing her arms and looking around as if trying to find where the core program was at; she simply closed her eyes as golden light formed around her; golden energy spread across the area apparently doing nothing until a groan rang out and a black sphere of energy some tens of centimeters wide and tall turned visible; Slur quickly dashed towards it and formed her strings around it; Slur quickly plunged her golden blades into it as the thing howled.

"Despite being a core program, it still has pain sensors. Talk about a hypocrite, boasting about needless emotions…"

"Truly."

"Ah. XY. Good timing."

XY appeared on the scene as well and formed blue chains that wrapped around the program; suddenly began to shrink so both jumped away as they formed several layers of circular barriers.

"Plug Out!" Both ordered.

No one hesitated and quickly escaped from the scene as both Slur and XY formed golden barriers of their own; the program imploded like a dying star and released a black shockwave that began to delete everything on its wake before it quelled and dispersed.

"… That was a copy." Slur broke the silence.

"Of course." XY was not surprised either.

"The problem will be finding out how many copies this thing has spread across the world…" Slur grimaced.

"Yes. Using the data that I took from it before it imploded, I might be able to improve some kind of tracking program. I cannot guarantee it totally but the possibility exists."

"Good. Go back and start working on it at once."

"Understood."

XY quickly became invisible and moved away from the scene while Slur sighed in relief; the sound of glass shattering ran out as Punk and Blues broke through the barrier the program had set up and landed in the scene, looking around.

"Man! That barrier's resistance was ridiculously high! It took over 5 minutes to break through it!" Punk grumbled.

"What in the… What happened here?" Blue gasped.

"The culprit tried to take me and XY out using a desperate self-destruct move but we saw it coming so… We managed to hinder its destructive power to some extent." Slur summed up.

"Man. That thing is sure getting desperate."

"Indeed. It is but a hypocrite. It only seeks to turn all Net Navis into its puppets and rule the Cyber World."

"Sheesh. How lovely." Enzan grumbled.

"You needn't tell me." Meijin sighed.

"XY said he might be able to make some kind of tracing program to find out how many copies of this thing are out there…"

"But where did that thing come from, anyway?" Obihiro wondered.

"Maybe some arrogant hacker who wants to prove they're the best hacker in the world and its ego is reflected in that program…"

"Makes sense. Problem will be finding the hacker or hackers behind it as well, though…" Oda grumbled.

"Or, maybe… It is something that generated accidentally from various pieces of data and gained a self of its own… Like Zero."

"Ah. That could be, too. In that case there's no human factor involved and would explain better its high ego." Oda agreed.

"It is but a hypothesis." Slur warned.

"I know. But better than having nothing to work with."

"Understood. Did you install the security systems I told you about the other day?"

"Of course."

"Excellent. The program, in its current state, is incapable of breaking through them. It might eventually find a way to but it will always rely on brute force because it lacks patience or common sense." Slur warned them.

"Noted down. Will warn the Science Labs about that, too."

"Yes. The culprit has set its sights on turning Rock Man into its puppet and then produce mass copies of him as enforcers. So warn Hikari-hakase to keep all data outside of the Cyber World. Fortunately the program is unable to interact with the real world."

"Noted! I'll talk to him at once."

"Good. I will go talk to Kuroban about this, too."

"Roger."

"You guys OK?" Enzan asked the students in the meanwhile.

"Yeah. It was a tense thing, though." Netto sighed.

"Thanks to the 3-layered security system we avoided that thing from intruding into our systems…" Saito added.

"Sheesh! Why do weird things always happen around me?" Dekao groaned.

"Must be because you don't take homework seriously enough. It's retribution, ya see." Yaito laughed.

"It's not funny!" Meiru complained.

"At all." Hikawa sighed.

"Yaito-sama… Your father will get annoyed again, ma'am."

"YIKES!"

"Classical." Enzan rolled his eyes.

"What about the stupid duo?" Saito asked.

"They were involved in a brawl with bounty hunters a few hours ago in Albania… It'd seem they were trying to hide in the "underground"… By now, they must've changed countries… They were actually travelling together so what Judge Man said the other was either a lie or it's an illusion either of them has created." Enzan detailed.

"Albania? What's that? A new type of _ramen_?" Dekao asked.

"You didn't do the geography homework, did you?" Netto sighed and rolled his eyes.

"YIKES!"

"Guts, Guts. Albania is a country in Eastern Europe, de guts." Guts Man corrected him.

"They sure bothered to flee pretty far away. Unless that was another red herring, that is." Saito muttered.

"Yeah. We confirmed that yeah, the "Infinitum" robot had been stolen but the Sweden police didn't notice because it was shut within a container and they only warped the robot inside of it, leaving the container. Can't blame them, though, "Dimensional Converters" being able to warp things and people is something only a few small circles know about." Enzan explained next, sighing.

"And? Did Regal admit to "you know what"?" Netto asked in a whisper, as he got closer to Enzan.

"Yeah. Was gloating about it. So obviously Superintedent Oda directed one of his "anger modes" at the guy and he stopped gloating and breaking into cold sweat… Deserves it, the bastard." He whispered back.

"Obviously." Saito drily muttered.

"Alright. Gotta get going back to the HQ. See you, and stay sharp."

_I should also train as well and get ready to battle these foes…_

18:04 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Oh yeah! I missed these experiences. Heh, heh. Didn't you as well, Cousin Urateido?"

"Sure, Cousin Yanada."

"Can't be helped. We were busy chasing that duo, after all."

"I know, Eisei! They're sneakier than a Koratta! Heh!"

"As expected of Sieg! I'm gripping your balls and you act like it's nothing indeed!"

Eisei and another three guys were present in an underground room somewhere lit by purple candles thus creating a creepy atmosphere.

Urateido had blackish hair, which was combed in a neat manner, and it extended until the base of the neck: his eyes' irises were blue

Yanada had messy blackish hair and brownish eye irises.

Sieg had white hair and looked very similar to Leon; but his hair was much more uncared for than Leon's.

The room's walls contained all kind of ropes, chains, and S&M accessories plus many sexual toys: the middle of it contained a triangular wooden horse with a metallic top edge and a thick spinning red silicon vibrator built into it.

Sieg was sitting atop the horse and the vibrator was plunging into his ass: he'd been stripped naked and tied in the so-called "turtle shell bondage" style using crimson ropes: a couple of them extended from behind the neck and were tightly tied around Sieg's wrists thus keeping his arms locked.

Sieg also had a black wool blindfold on followed by a small metallic cups on his nipples: each cup had a small 5kg weight attached to below it so that they would pull down the nipples' skin: they were linked a by very thin chain emerging from each one and which conveyed into a small ring: another chain emerged from there and could be pulled.

His balls had some black leathers bands circling it from all sides and emerging it from a small belt on the base of his cock: his cock had a urethra vibrator stuffed into it and which had four legs tied to the base of the cock as support.

Eight clothes pegs had been clipped on both the SE and SW corners of his balls as well.

Yanada was standing on a couple of metallic steps placed behind the horse and sliding his cock in and out of Sieg's remaining ass space while he gripped his balls with both hands: Eisei was pulling the nipples' chain in the meanwhile while Urateido simply stood to the left and was filming it with a video camera.

"Nevertheless, those two idiots are pale compared to this weird Skynet wannabe. Or, well, any generic AI in fiction that goes mad and believes itself to be supreme and all that crap." Eisei grumbled.

"Sure thing. Anyway, forget about that loser and let's have fun with perfect masochist Sieg." Urateido grinned.

"Of course."

"And with perfect lovers Ura-chan, Gray-chan and Lee-chan." A woman's voice laughed from outside the room.

"Sheesh! Mom!" Urateido complained.

"Why not? You're all lovey-dovey by now."

"We're not!"

"Well. Maybe you guys don't feel like it that but such lustful attraction to a cute _shota_ like Sieg feels like LOVE to me." She laughed.

"Sheesh." Urateido grumbled.

"Aunt! Could you please not say that stuff aloud?" Yanada complained.

"Why not, Lee-chan? Doesn't it make you feel like a though guy?"

"It doesn't, aunt! Why do you call me "Lee"? My name is Bruce!"

"Because of Bruce Lee…" Urateido sighed.

"Oh come on!" Yanada complained.

"Blame Sis; she's always been an avid fan of his and that's why she named you Bruce!"

"Lovely." He rolled his eyes.

"Oh yeah, whenever Aunt and Mom met they spent hours going over their VTRs of the Bruce Lee movies…" Urateido recalled.

"By the way, when's the Prince's royal marriage? Gray-chan?"

"Huh? Royal marriage? Where did that come out from?" Eisei wondered aloud, frowning.

"I remember some of the guys mentioning it before… That the Prince was worried about the prospect… But there was nothing decided yet; he was getting ahead of himself…" Sieg recalled.

"Ah. I see. Well, sorry to disappoint you, ma'am, but… _Aibou_ is a "Prince", yeah, but it's but a historical, hereditary title! Since the kingdom that his ancestors ruled over vanished MILLENIA ago! So even if he's gonna marry, it's gonna be a common civilian marriage! Ma'am!" EIsei shouted back at Urateido's mother.

"Oh, really? Pity. Thought it be as gallant as His Majesty the Emperor or Queen Elizabeth II." She sighed.

"Don't you have anything else to do, Mom?" Urateido sighed.

"The next clients will come in 20 minutes and until then… Of course, if a client came to visit I'd go back to the desk, but…"

"So to kill the boredom you came to tease us, huh?"

"Oh yeah. And to deliver a message to Gray-chan from you guys' gentleman Prince."

"Huh? Why…? Huh? Oh, crap! I forgot the PET in the room of the 2nd floor when we were playing _Mario Kart_!" Eisei realized.

"He wants you guys to be back to the base before tomorrow morning since he suspects either that "mad program" or "one of the runaway duo" will strike it… That's it." She told them.

"Thank you, ma'am. I apologize for the bother."

"Oh don't worry! I was having fun imaging how he must look beneath that helmet… Guess as handy as Hakuba Saguru from _Magic Kaito_?" She laughed.

"Mom! Sorry to tell you this, but… You ruin the atmosphere! Could you please go back to the first floor and watch a video or so until the next clients come?" Urateido sighed.

"Hmmm… Why not. Sure. I'll keep the PET in case there's more calls; and don't worry, it's got a PIN so I can't peek in… I thought there would be videos of you guys going to a forest hut and having a 4P. That is, having sex between all of you." She laughed again.

"Not funny, mom!" Urateido grumbled.

She laughed as she walked away and everyone sighed in relief; Eisei rolled his eyes and slapped his face in exasperation.

"Done!" Yanada announced as he jumped off.

"OK. You're the only one left, Eisei."

"Sure. But I feel like having a blowjob so lower the horse and stuff another vibrator on the ass." He made an evil grin.

"Excellent! I missed doing a good blowjob!" Sieg grinned.

Urateido chuckled as he picked another vibrator from a box and stuffed it inside of Sieg's ass as he lowered the wooden horse's height so that Sieg's head would be at more or less Eisei's waist height as he opened his trousers' zipper and drew his already hardened cock; he walked over to Sieg and grabbed his head from behind with the right hand as he put it inside of his mouth; he began to set a pace while Sieg sucked on it.

"Ah yeah! This feeling of domination! I can't have enough of it!"

"Truly! I remember how many meek guys I dominated like that, forcing them to secretly meet with me in break time and give me a good blowjob; I loved it." Urateido laughed.

"Yeah… When a mafia man overseas kept me as slave for a year and some months, I was forced to do blowjobs the whole time… That's when I realized it was a sign of domination… One thing that awakened my "sadist" nature on me… Because I wanted to experience that feeling of satisfaction too… And luck had it that I met Sieg and I've been able to exert that domination plenty of times!" He laughed.

"Sure. That's what I was taught too." Urateido grinned.

"Oh, really? I learnt something new today!"

"Although forcing them into doggy pose and fucking from behind also feels good, too."

"Sure does! Hey, Sieg! Time for milk!"

Eisei grinned as he released inside of Sieg's mouth and then took out the cock; Urateido handed him over a handkerchief and cleansed it before pushing back it inside the trousers; Sieg grinned and chuckled.

"Refreshing!" He laughed.

"As expected."

"Alright. It's almost time so let's cleanse up… We need to go back to the base at once so…" Urateido reminded them.

"True. Let's get there ASAP. I've got the hunch that _aibou_ will have us do some physical training to make sure we're ready for a prolonged battle against the robot or that program thing." Eisei agreed.

"Remember to not to talk about our "hobbies" there least Ernst gets annoyed at us again." Sieg warned them.

"Yeah. Let's be careful, yeah." Eisei sighed.

_Well. Let's see which it'll be… Ogre or snake? We'll beat them up nevertheless! With the power of Shunoros!_


	14. Chapter 14: Intelligence

**Chapter 14: Intelligence**

07:30 AM (Philippines Time), Tuesday April 25th…

"… Alright. You've all gathered. Let's check… Netsuhonoo!"

"Yes, sir!"

"This is an emergency so your punishment is temporarily suspended. That doesn't mean that it's finished yet."

"Yes, sir!"

Kuroban (without his armor) was standing in front of a door built into a mountain, and facing the beach of an island as his subordinates stood in a row in front of him.

His hair was black in coloring and kept a neatly combed manner while his eyes' irises were blood red.

He wore a simple long-sleeved thick navy blue t-shirt, a black leather belt, jeans and brown hiking boots

The first man he called out to, Netsuhonoo, who was on his late teens or early 20s.

His hair had been dyed fire red and his eyes' irises were brown.

"Next! Kisei!"

"Yes, sir!"

"There haven't been any physical sequels of that incident with Shadow Nova?"

"No, sir. I haven't felt any since then, sir."

Kisei, Ruthless Vine, had green tinted hair and it was neatly combed while his irises were emerald green.

His face had some marks of previous cuts and blows, which had mainly faded by now.

"Alright. Next! Umisama!"

"Yes, sir!"

Umisama, Blue Wave, had been dyed blue although there was a trace of brown hair underneath it: he was about the same age as the others.

"Has there been anything odd around you?"

"Huh? Ah. You mean that aunt I ran away from, sir. No, sir."

"Good. But don't lower the guard."

"Roger, sir."

"Next! Kazebun!"

"Yes, sir!"

Kazebun, Fighting Cyclone, looked like he was close to 20 years old and he had eyes with brown irises: his hair had been tinted purple.

"Did you find anything in Albania?"

"I beat up some grunts who say they tried to catch the duo… They admitted that Element Man was actually a hologram… So it'd seem they suddenly didn't team up, sir…" He reported.

"Hmmm… Looks like it. Good work."

"Yes, sir."

"Next! Ernst!"

"Yes, sir!"

Ernst's, End Angel, eye irises were blue.

His hair had grown in an uncontrolled manner and it now extended to past the base of his neck: it had a natural reddish tone to it.

"Remember we're going to face a difficult foe. Focus on the task. You can complain about Gray and the other two later. That's an order!"

"Yes, sir! I will not fail you, sir!"

"Good. Next! Siegfried!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Don't come close to Search Man or Colonel EVER AGAIN. Is that clear enough?" He ordered.

"Y-yes, sir!"

"I wonder about that." Ernst muttered.

"Sigh. What did I just tell you, Ernst?" He grumbled.

"Ah! I am sorry, sir! It was… unconsciously, sir."

"Focus on the upcoming battle!"

"Yes, sir! I apologize, sir!"

"Next! Urateido!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Don't make fun of people who went through a traumatic experience when it comes to "that topic"… Understood? And I haven't forgotten the cowardly things you did in the past either." He warned.

"Y-yes, sir…" He gulped.

"Last! Gray! Don't rely on little tricks to win battles! If you're a man, fight fair and square! Understood?" He warned.

"Y-yeah… Gotcha…" He gulped, too.

"Alright. As for the reason I gathered you so early… We're going to do some physical training in case the enemy plans to strike today. I materialized a running course around the island."

He signaled how a wide, round platform with handrails on both sides, had been erected about this small island which only had a pier on the south side, a mountain-shaped tower in the middle, and the waters surrounding it; the skies were grey and wind blew across the area.

"Follow me! Stay quiet! Save energy for the training!"

"Roger!"

Kuroban climbed the ramp up into the course and they formed three rows; they all began to run following his pace.

_I already installed the 3-layered security on their PETs so that stupid program thing can't steal the "Denpa-Henkan" data. If it's not it, it's going to be Element Man or Judge Man anyway, and that stupid robot thing… If it's a data-made imitation, it can't be harder to chew than the real thing… Let's not get confident either. Since it's already data to begin with, its processing speed will be higher and it has no mechanical limitations as well… When you look at it from this point of view, this one might actually be harder to chew, even!_

Some beeps rang out and Kuroban calmly took out his purple and black Link PET; a map of the island and three blue rings was displayed, and a red line had crossed one of the lines.

"Men! Transform! The enemy is approaching! Also, put on the sensor shades… If it's the same pattern as when the assault on _Purgatory_, there might be a drone of some TV station filming us…" He stopped and turned around to face the others.

"Roger!"

They all drew their respective PETs and performed the process while Kuroban snapped his left hand's thumb and index to make a spheroid appear in midair.

This spheroid was made of circuitry boards covered by a transparent plastic-like material formed in the air: it included two bands colored black and white spanning through it from pole to pole and another band which surely was the Equator: its four corners had pieces of armor colored in red, green, blue and purple colors.

"Engage Denpa-Henkan program!"

The spheroid glowed and turned into a sphere of energy that hovered in front of Kuroban; his armor began to materialize around him as well as his weapons.

"Huh? Prince, sir… It's not the robot but soldiers." End Angel reported.

"What? Wait, I'm coming up."

He warped alongside the others and landed in the Wave Roads spreading in many directions from the antenna near the peak of the tower; he could confirm indeed that six rubber boats loaded with soldiers were approaching the island.

"They don't have any emblems or flags in their cloths yet they carry grenade launchers, missile launchers, machineguns, handguns, knives and so on…" End Angel reported as he looked at them with night-vision equipped binoculars.

"Too well stocked to be mere pirates…" Kuroban muttered.

"Doesn't feel like a militia either… So maybe it's some country's Navy unit that's operating illegally hence why they don't carry any emblems?" Gray Thunderbolt suggested.

"Wouldn't surprise me. Maybe one of the fugitives stirred them up to try to steal our technology saying it'd allow them to win the next war or something like that." Fighting Cyclone suggested next.

"Well. We've got a Dimensional Area protecting the last perimeter sensor area so they can't reach the island… And none of their weapons can actually damage it either…" Kuroban shrugged.

"So we ignore them and wait for them to leave?" Blue Wave deduced as he checked the surroundings.

"Yeah. I want to know who they are so… Wave, Cyclone, Vine, Corvus… The four of you head in the direction they came from. There must be a ship from where they came from; we're too far from any mainland for them to have come with mere rubber boats. The other remain here with me." Kuroban ordered.

"Roger, sir!"

"Keep silent and report only when you find the ship. Don't try to board it either, just inspect it from afar. If needed, place a Virus near the command bridge to overhear what they're saying."

"Understood, sir. We will…"

"Warning! Enemy approaching at high speed from the SE!" Gray Thunderbolt suddenly warned.

"What!"

They all looked over there and saw an object flying over the surface of the sea at top speed, leaving a trail on the water; it had an energy shield deployed in front of it at some distance from the main body and was heading straight for the island.

"Shit. It's a pincer attack! The robot will overload the barrier, allowing those soldiers to land on the island! At least I can cast barriers from inside the base so they can't get in but…" Kuroban cursed.

"What do we do?"

"Hmmm… I thought of trapping the robot in the running track but we'd be sitting ducks there… I'll reshape it into additional ground to have more room to fight but… I still am unsure how to address those soldiers… Wait, I know… Let's make them fight the robot instead. I'm sure that if they see things turn awry they'll run away…" He decided.

"Sure. They're intruders so we've got the right to expel them." Raging Flame nodded in agreement.

"Alright… Let's do it, then."

Kuroban formed a control screen and inputted some commands to release the Dimensional Area and sink the running track a bit to then reshape it as additional ground; the robot landed on the island and began to search for targets while the unknown soldiers shot gas grenades into the beach; they were equipped with gas masks linked to an oxygen supply to completely avoid breathing in the gas.

"Some kind of poisonous gas?" Ruthless Vine gasped.

"So they came intending to kill all on their way." End Angel icily muttered.

"Yeah. Guess they were lied and told we're terrorists worth killing."

"Hmpf. Let's make fools fight fools." Evil Corvus muttered.

The soldiers split in two groups and began to circle the island only to bump into the robot, which obviously assumed them its targets and readied the Vulcan gun; the soldiers quickly moved asides to dodge and they began shooting grenades at it; directional shields formed around its flanks to deflect them and they exploded in mid-air; the robot then brought up the railgun and aimed for a group to the right which quickly dispersed as the shot delete part of the data-made floor.

"They look highly trained to be mere soldiers… Special forces?" Venomous Wolf wondered.

"Probably so…" Kuroban agreed.

"Prince, sir. I managed to tap into their communications frequency, it's not encoded. They're talking in Korean, according to the automated translator… I can't tell if it's North or South, though." Raging Flame reported as he tapped the right side of his helmet.

"I don't think North Korea has the training or means to conduct an operation of this size unnoticed by South Korea… Therefore, it's probably some South Korean high-ranking officer that's acting on his own without authorization from the top brass or the civilian government. Good. At least we established who they are." Kuroban calmly nodded in agreement, and kept looking.

"GIGIGI! KAKAKA! GUKAZAMIROMEMOMO!"

"Speaking of the devil…"

They calmly turned around to see Element Man standing on a nearby "Wave Road" and yelling something at them, annoyed, but none was too impressed; they simply got into a fighting stance and Element Man began to step back, knowing he was outnumbered.

"Your precious robot imitation is too heavy to use the "Wave Roads" or to be able to keep in the air for a long period of time. You attach boosters to it to make it gain speed and energy to overload barriers but that's it. It can't fight in midair the whole time." Kuroban taunted.

"Besides. You're just imitating your rival. There's nothing original in that, is there?" Gray Thunderbolt taunted next.

Element Man was annoyed and quickly shifted through all of his modes as he shot elemental attacks at the group but each one used the opposite element to cancel them one by one.

"It's in vain." Kuroban taunted.

End Angel glanced back down at the island; most of the additional ground has been deleted by the robot's attacks, the beach had shallow burnt trenches opened on it by the laser gun's attacking, shells and grenade fragments were scattered in the area, and the soldiers were steadily falling back to ride in the boats and retreat from the area.

"This could be bad, sir. They're requesting that the battleship back them up with fire from its main guns, sir." Raging Flame warned.

"Hum. True. Let's scare them a bit. Awaken, incarnation of Bloodthirsty God of Essence!" Kuroban called out.

"Mugro~h! I have awakened…! I shall cast fear into the feeble mortals and they shall learn not to disturb my slumber…! They shall become food to quell my thirst! And I shall take them into the circles of pain where fools are devoured!" A voice echoed from somewhere.

The top of the mountain opened in half as an object flew out of it, scaring Element Man, who stepped back.

This object had a central circle-shaped body with a circle-shaped mouth, which contained many small indented teeth: the robot's body was painted mainly white with some cobalt bands there and there.

It also possessed two round shoulders and arms: each arm's end had five claws and had gained a pale green/turquoise coloring with some white patterns.

The arms also contained two small dome-shaped pale green spots just below the elbow joints.

There was an extension atop the thing containing a golden pupil-less eye made of the same material.

An inverted cone had been built beneath the main body to allow it to apparently plunge into some material and were stuck there: many cables were linked to the thing.

The thing possessed a kind of curve where the head should be and a neck-like extension originated from it, having that golden pupil-less golden eye set on its center: two small brown and black-colored cones originated from both sides of the open mouth.

Various wires were linked to several parts of its body and some headed inside of the mouth.

It also had two insect-like wings behind its shoulders.

"There. All yours." Kuroban smirked.

"Mugro~h!"

The thing shot away while Kuroban opened a screen to show a FPV feed which was obviously provided by the thing; Element Man was shivering and looked about to run away.

"What. It's but a robot." End Angel taunted.

"What a chicken." Blue Wave smirked.

Element Man got annoyed again and lifted his arms but Venomous Wolf quickly warped to his location and swept his claws around to inflicting some damage to him, forcing him into defensive stance; he switched to fire mode but Wolf had already jumped away to be replaced by Blue Wave who shot a Bubble Spread gun at him, inflicting double damage and forcing him into default mode; he tried the thunder mode but Ruthless Vine stepped in and attacked with a Bamboo Lance attack; Element Man tried the water mode but Gray Thunderbolt delivered a Thunder Fist to him next; when he tried to switch to grass mode, Raging Flame used a Flame Tower to counterattack; Element Man groaned and collapsed from the damage attained so End Angel quickly warped on his location and formed restrains to impede him from running away; Fighting Cyclone gripped his head to begin analyzing his data.

"He was hiding in Haiti this whole time, it'd seem!"

"Haiti, huh? Closer than I thought." Kuroban calmly muttered as he glanced over his shoulder at them.

"Doesn't seem to know where Judge Man is at; they had a brawl 3 days ago in Haiti but Judge Man quickly left when his HP fell below 25% of the total amount. He tried chasing him but used some thugs he'd hired as a distraction and by the time he beat those, Judge Man had already erased his trails." He reported next.

"I see. So he was indeed lying when he claimed that he'd defeated this subject over here."

"… When are you going to hit that thing?"

"But, Commander, sir! This thing moves at almost Mach 1 speed! Our guns aren't designed to keep track of things close to the speed of sound! They're designed to fight other battleships, sir!"

"No good, sir! It's constantly moving out of range, too!"

"Isn't this battleship supposed to be the greatest one in our fleet? Prove it, you useless rookie sailors!"

"B-but, sir! Nobody ever said that, sir! It's but a normal ship, sir! You can't ask it to do something it wasn't designed to do, sir!"

Kuroban was looking at how the robot was flying in circles around a battleship the machineguns of which were trying to hit but they were too slow for it; the main guns were constantly moving around but they were unable to keep track either; an audio graph on the lower screen represented the volume of the sounds picked up from the command bridge of the battleship.

"Call for fighter jets! Say we're being attacked by North Korea's newest unmanned fighter jet or something like that!"

"But, sir, that'd mean we'd be going into full-out war with them, sir! Only the President and the top brass can authorize that, sir!"

"I don't care! Call them! Do you want to die? This thing will eventually get serious and sink us!"

"In that you're mistaken." Kuroban spoke to them using a device to turn his words into Korean.

"Who the hell?" The commander growled.

"Someone." Kuroban shrugged.

"What do you mean?"

"My toy is only there to give you a little fright. I have no intention to sink you. You intruded my island and intended to kill us all as well as to destroy it by using the main guns. I have the right to defend myself. And this is how I do it." He listed.

"Damn it! So that weird machine was yours?"

"The robot imitation? No. It was from the "clever" guy who told you it was easy to steal our tech and make of it the key to win the war against your neighbors… The guy thought he could trap us in a pincer attack but I had foreseen such a possibility time ago."

"What the hell? So that wasn't an agent of the top brass?"

"Of course not. Did you even bother to double-check with them? Or if the email address was valid to begin with?" Kuroban dully replied.

"Damn it all!"

"S-sir! It's the Supreme Commander, sir!" A soldier reported.

"Wha~t? The Supreme Commander?" He gasped.

"He demands to know what's going on… Apparently this whole thing is being filmed and transmitted live by the CNN…"

"By all the…"

"Oh yeah. That'd be the culprit's handiworks. Thought he'd show the world in live how we're slaughtered but his plan backfired. Now they're seeing what an idiot he is. Right?" He turned around to mock at Element Man.

"GISOGAKAMURORUKI!" He growled something undecipherable.

"I'm so going to kill that bastard! Hand it over! I'll have a firing squad shoot it to death and toss it to the bottom of the Pacific!" The commander growled.

"I don't need to listen to a rogue man's ramblings. I think you should be worrying about what your court martial will result in. Probably expulsion from the Navy and prison." Kuroban shot back.

"Indeed! And it'll get worse if you keep on ignoring me!" The Supreme Commander yelled.

"Yikes! I'd forgotten!"

"Men! I command you to arrest that man! He's a rogue, and thus he no longer serves the Navy! This whole operation is illegal, disguised as "training exercises"! The man was trying to put the blame on you as well, I've got documents here that prove it!"

"Y-yes, Supreme Commander!"

"Take your hands off me! You scum! I'm supreme!" The rogue commander roared.

"Supreme? You? Don't make me laugh. You're but a rogue who only does what's convenient to you. Such as wanting to kill unarmed teenagers who've never done any harm to South Korea…"

"By all the…! I knew it; your report is but a load of BULLSHIT! What "dangerous terrorists who stole U-235"! You were intending to manslaughter youngsters and then blame the soldiers for it? What a SON OF A BITCH! I'll see to it that you receive a good punishment!" The Supreme Commander roared.

"Gets your hands off me, you scum! I'm elite! You can't touch me! Or I'll kill you all!"

"By all the… The guy's lost it." Gray Thunderbolt cursed.

"I authorize you to knock them out! Lock them in a disciplinary cell until you get back to mainland! I'll come over to teach his fucker a lesson or two about CONSEQUENCES!"

There was a THUD sound as apparently the soldiers did as commanded and the sound of something being dragged away.

"Vice-Commander! I appoint you to Commander of this vessel until you return to mainland."

"Roger, sir!"

"Tell me. You felt the whole thing was strange, no?"

"Yes, sir. But the man ordered me to shut up or he'd close me in a cell for disobedience so I couldn't do much about it, sir."

"Understandable. We need more protocols for cases like these indeed! By the way, the man talking to us… You're Prince Kuroban, right?" The Supreme Commander asked.

"Correct. I caught the Net Navi that incited this son of a bitch to make a move. Japan has posted a wanted warrant on this fool so I'm delivering it over to them." Kuroban replied.

"Alright. I don't mind. I've got enough hassle over here dealing with this madman. How did someone so mad make this far? I suspect bribes and influence traffic indeed! Time for some purges indeed, I must talk to the Prime Minister! SHEESH! Stop firing the guns, disengage battle formation, and set course for the mainland! NOW!"

"R-roger, sir!"

"Alright. I'll pull out my robot. Return!"

The robot flew back towards the island and descended inside of the tower; Kuroban walked over to Element Man and lifted him by the neck using the right arm.

"I could cut you to pieces right now but it'd be barbaric on my part. I'll send you to Japan to be processed formally. We made a mistake letting you two loose, and I will correct it! Ernst, Kazebun, Kisei! Take this fool to the Net Police HQ. I'll freeze them with a program I have."

Kuroban made his left hand glow and gripped the chest emblem.

"GUIIIHHH!"

Element Man suddenly lumped as his body shut down; End Angel, Fighting Cyclone and Ruthless Vine made the body hover over the ground before they warped away to carry out their mission.

"The DNN drone has left, since there was nothing else to be seen. I guess there'll be quite an international fuss indeed." Raging Flame sighed after scanning the perimeter.

"Hmpf. Sure there'll be but that's South Korea's issue. Not ours. We'll keep quiet about this… Besides, something tells me that the DNN didn't know what this island was to begin with so they might not link it to us. Let's go get back to the ground; the gas has already dispersed…" Kuroban grumbled.

"What about the robot imitation, sir?" Blue Wave asked.

"It stopped when we beat up Element Man since the fool was controlling it in live… The program I inputted on the fool was transmitted to the robot imitation too, stopping it."

In effect, the robot imitation had totally stopped by now so the group warped back to ground level; Kuroban approached the imitation as if trying to decide what to do with it.

"We'll keep it for a while. It could be useful in case Judge Man attacks again with the real one. And it can also be used against that stupid berserk program too…" He decided.

He touched it with the left hand to dematerialize it and nodded in agreement to himself as he looked around.

"As for all the mess they left behind… Let's just pick it up and we'll send it to the South Koreans as material evidence of what happened. Well, it's not like the soldiers' own radio logs won't be enough but you never know so…" He ordered.

Gray Thunderbolt nodded and used his magnetic abilities to pull all metals out of the sand and store them inside of a metallic container.

"Good. By the way! Remember, Urateido. I won't tolerate you making fun of those you've harmed before. I only keep you around because you know about those circles of the underground. While I haven't forgotten that, during a time, I was forced to rely on some of those things for money. I do not take pride on it, and I know it was a hypocrite thing to do… Understood?" Kuroban warned him.

"Y-y-yes, sir…" He broke in cold sweat.

"Don't incite him either, Gray… Or you either, Siegfried."

"Y-y-yes, sir…"

"R-roger, _aibou_…"

"As for the others… Don't start going around like you can teach them lessons on the morality of their actions." He warned the others.

"Roger, sir!"

"And don't start a fight or discussion over those either! I'm warning ALL of you, understood?" He added.

They all nervously nodded before Kuroban walked into the mountain through the main doors; the group sighed and cancelled their transformations as they looked around.

"Maybe we can watch some _Big Bang Theory_ in the living room to shake off the tension?" Umisama suggested.

"Good idea. Let's do so." Netsuhonoo agreed.

"Let's see what crazy stuff Sheldon has come up with this time around; maybe he's invented a plasma gun?" Urateido joked.

"Wouldn't surprise me!" Sieg grinned.

"It's a deal, then!" Eisei nodded in agreement.

They walked around the island to make sure they'd retrieved all remains of the battle and kept on chatting.

_This was too close of a call… _Aibou_ is right, we can't lower the guard!_


	15. Chapter 15: Templates

**Chapter 15: Templates**

09:18 AM (Bangkok Time), Thursday April 27th…

"… So? Have you made any progress regarding that stupid program thing and the computer it's hiding at?"

"Oh yes. We have, Iris."

"We are some steps closer to closing on it."

"Oh yes? And why is that, Father?"

Iris, XY, Helios and Geo were reunited in the chairs next to the golden box and talking; Refraction was standing behind XY and Helios as if waiting for his next orders.

"Take a seat." Helios told him.

Refraction silently bowed and sat on a seat to Helios' right.

"We found that my… "Colleagues" had actually detected the program when it intruded this city's central computer but quickly were able to isolate and delete it but the damage had been done… They isolated the computer from the outside to make sure it could not try to get inside again… However… They also foresaw that XY and I would eventually return and so they prepared a remote connection linked to the "Crest" and which would revoke all other permissions the thing could have set up in the twin computer…" Helios explained.

"I see. That'd allow you to regain control of the computer before the program could lock you out of the system or try to intrude this one through the remote connection…" Iris realized.

"Yes. The computer OS has probably recognized it as a hostile program from the start but had no time to take proper measures to get rid of it before it got overridden… What we will do instead is override the hostile program and allow the OS to isolate and delete it. And of course, create antibodies to impede it from lodging there ever again."

"So at least we would have control of that city back."

"Correct. Kuroban already took care of isolating the Kyutora computer and ran a system check but the program had left no clones there since it probably deemed the task unproductive."

"I'm a bit worried that it's been too quiet. Last time it attacked, it was on Monday. It's already Thursday." Iris warned.

"Excuse for interrupting, but… According to the Science Labs' analysis of Element Man's data, it would seem it was this program what spurred it to take action against Shunoros even though Element Man originally only wanted to settle the score with Judge Man. Maybe it also spurred Judge Man to attack Golden Star, too." Refraction explained.

"Ah! That explains it. It was relying on proxies to do the job for it instead, huh? Like the "Patriots" AI network…" Iris realized.

"Patriots? AI network?" Geo asked.

"Sorry. It reminded me of a work of fiction about a series of AIs that began a "war economy" because they ran berserk and strayed from their original programming… And since they themselves could not do anything, they relied on proxies to do their bidding…" She summed up.

"I understand."

"Of course, we also readied heavy defenses on our side if the thing tries to lurch at us at the second the connection is established. In fact, I think that is the most likely action it will commit. It must be eager to delete us forever and steal our data." Helios rubbed his chin.

"Yes. Looking at it from this point of view, it does make sense. Ah. I sense the warriors have returned. Let us debrief them." XY suddenly told them as he looked at the entrance.

"But of course."

The 4 warriors walked up to the stairs leading to where they were seated and kneeled in reverence; they produced data cubes colored in each one's respective colors.

"Good work. You can disengage the camouflage now."

"Yes, Lord."

The four of them glowed as their camouflages were cancelled and revealed the four warriors that had the "Style Change" forms, which they had assumed years ago when testing Rock Man within the "pyramid" of the Reverse Internet.

"Oh? So Judge Man has been spotted in Czechoslovakia? He sure wants to do a tour of Eastern Europe." XY read the data.

"Is the information reliable?" Helios questioned.

"No doubt. It was Judge Man who lured them into an abandoned building and tried to use proxy Navis to defeat them." XY read up more data from the reports.

"I see."

"We apologize. The man ran away as we were dealing with his proxies, which turned out to be harder to defeat than we initially assumed. We shall offer no excuses." Guts Style apologized.

"They used elemental tactics. While we could cancel them at first, they began to shift their elements at random." Brother Style added.

"It became hard to predict what their next attacks would be." Custom Style also reported.

"Fortunately my shield abilities helped protect us from further damage and we were able to combine our strengths to overcome them. We assumed we were strong, yet we have been taught a lesson on the weaknesses of our strategies. We apologize for being overconfident, Lord." Shield Style apologized too.

"It matters not. We are stressed and I hurried you to get results as soon as possible. I must also assume my responsibility as well. You have done very well, my warriors. Return to your quarters and rest. Do not fret; there will be more chances to capture the runaway." XY calmly told them as he walked down the stairs towards them.

"As you command, Lord!"

They all warped away and XY sighed while he headed back to where the others were at; an alarm suddenly blared to life and they all sprung to their feet as an announcement rang out in a language unknown to Iris, Geo and Refraction.

"The program! It established the remote connection from its end and hit the first of the 10 defense layers!" Helios cursed.

"10 defense layers!" The others were impressed.

"Let us hurry!"

They all rushed into the dome and stepped into a hexagonal platform in the ground that descended to a basement tunnel; another platform was waiting there, hovering inches over the ground; they rode on it and it accelerated forward while shielding the wind using an energy barrier; Iris, Geo and Refraction looked around, visibly surprised.

"True. We had never shown you this area yet. This is the tunnel to the bunker where the central computer is built in." Helios explained.

"30 seconds until destination." XY reported.

Another announcement rang out.

"Oh? It would seem the thing has gained a new proxy. It can bite a bit but not enough… It made it through the first two layers but that was within calculation. We are luring it in." Helios explained.

"And then close the layers behind it while making them more powerful, I guess?" Iris deduced.

"Correct." XY confirmed.

The platform began to slow down and softly landed in the ground before a plain stone wall; a doorway became visible and they crossed it to emerge into a huge circular room having a tall hexagonal black machine over 5 meters tall and several wide placed in the middle of it; the floor had circuitry patterns drawn across it and the environment was colored red due to the emergency state; the computer's outer shell was totally smooth blackened metal with no visible inputs or outputs.

"Reminds me of the "Monolith" in the works of Arthur C. Clarke. An object that you couldn't tell on a first glance that it's a computer…" Iris muttered as they approached it.

"Good point. I had not made the comparison before." Helios muttered back while sound slightly surprised.

He and XY approached the machine and a 3D display formed showing Laser Man trying to break through an energy wall within the Cyber World; neither were too surprised while Geo looked on with curiosity.

"Ah. That's its new proxy. Laser Man, huh? Guess it had plenty of chances to copy its data." Iris wasn't too surprised.

"STYYYXXXX! COME OUT! I WILL DESTROY YOU~!" Laser Man was howling as he attacked the wall.

"Styx?" Geo wondered.

"To put it simple… A Net Navi he created to absorb further power… An accomplice… However… When this fool tried to run away from a battle, Styx absorbed him as a punishment… This fool did not want to admit it was his fault and kept on dragging on that stupid "grudge" for the man the whole time… Until we had to delete him." XY summarized.

"Yeah. That Net Navi is like Regal in many aspects. Arrogant, believing himself above others, thinking he's invincible, never wanting to admit that he's wrong…" Iris dully listed.

"I guess they chose this one thinking that its "grudge" would make it stronger… However, the stupid program fell into the same trap all these folk fall for… Hatred DOES NOT make you stronger. Nor does revenge. I have interviewed countless humans about this topic over millennia, and they all agreed on that." Helios warned.

"Exactly. I also experienced that on myself. I was blinded for revenge against Colonel for letting us rot in that hole. Because we were a hinder to his "pride". When we became free, I set out to make him suffer a lot… However… In the end, I gained nothing from it. I became something worse than he or the man who closed us there…" Iris sighed.

"Yes. However, as the makers of the Cybeasts and of that domain, I also wanted to take responsibility. Since they were both gone and that domain became empty, I never thought of checking up on it. I also fell for the lies that Colonel spread around… That is also I wanted to help you break free of that revenge which I had unintentionally provoked…" XY sighed as he turned around to look at Iris.

"I am aware of it. I don't blame you for it; nobody could've imagined things would end up like that." Iris calmly replied.

"Thank you. Alright. Let us focus on the task. The fool has made it to Level 3. What do we do, Master?"

"Hmmm… Let us lure them to Level 5. The deeper inside, the harder they will have to escape. I am sure that the program is betting it all on this one attack and would never think of escaping… Maybe Laser Man's stupidity has infected the thing, too." Helios decided.

"Somehow, it would not surprise me." Geo shrugged.

"Excuse me for interrupting. Having it how it behaved in the past, it is a logical thing to think." Refraction commented.

"Hah! What weak defenses! I am already past most of them! My power is unrivaled! Get ready, Styx! Today YOU DIE!" Laser Man gloated.

"Fool. Like he would be here to begin with." Helios annoyingly muttered to himself.

"Hmmm… Alternatively… It's gotten so deluded he thinks he's attacking _Purgatory_ instead." Iris suggested.

"That would make sense." XY shrugged.

"Half-way in! Nobody can stop me! Nothing! Absolutely nothing! Out of my way, you weaklings! I'M INVINCIBLE!"

"Indeed! You are one my templates! Network Navigators worth of salvation and evolving into a superior existence! Now prove it to those fools, delete all of them! You are invincible!" The program was "encouraging" Laser Man as it hovered behind him.

"Brainwashing indeed." Iris rolled her eyes.

"However, we should not get confident… Like Father has warned many times, this defective program could have many copies of itself spread across the world…" Geo reminded them.

"Good point, Geo. Yes, you are right. That is why we are making a program to be able to detect its signature. How is it coming along like, XY? I thought it was almost complete?"

"Yes, Master. 99% complete. I was about to put the finishing touches and do some testing this morning after the meeting."

"Good. But first let us purge this contamination."

"But of course, Master."

"Ready the trap."

"Trap is ready, Master. It can be sprung anytime. I already strengthened the remaining layers values. They are now 10 times stronger than they were in the default settings. I did make sure to reinforce the strength of the ground as well." XY reported as he operated a control panel.

"Excellent."

Laser Man broke another wall and stepped into another area; XY inputted a command in the control panel and powerful walls of silver energy formed around Laser Man, trapping him in a small area of about four square meters; Laser Man looked around, and then aimed his cannons at the wall in front of him.

"Darkness Laser!"

He shot two powerful purple lasers at the wall in front of him but they bounced back at him, hitting him fully in the chest and propelling him into the wall behind him, electrocuting him; he collapsed on his fours and growled as his "visor" glowed red and he stood up faster than one would have expected; he looked upwards but 10 layers of silver energy lids formed over the opening of the "cage"; he growled and began to charge his cannons again.

"Destroy Lasers!"

He shot reddish lasers at the ceiling in a continuous manner; the energy was absorbed and quickly transmitted across the layers before being vented off into the air; Laser Man growled and stopped shooting as he formed energy around his fists and began to punch the ground over and over again yet it wouldn't yield either.

"Damn it! Impossible!" Laser Man growled.

"More! Pour out more hatred!" The program commanded.

Laser Man roared and loaded his cannons again which he shot at the wall in front of him in a continuous manner; the energy was absorbed and travelled across the whole wall before being outputted as countless thin beams of energy that bombarded Laser Man's body from countless angles, overwhelming him and making lose balance and drop into his fours again; he kept on growling and punching the ground.

"See?" Helios asked the others.

"How miserable indeed." Iris drily muttered.

"Despite being a program our ancestors left behind, it sure is a huge disappointment." Geo muttered.

"Your current generation tends to exaggerate what we could actually do and make us look like we were perfect. That is a grave mistake. We were never perfect; we ARROGANTLY believed to be that. That stupid program is a perfect representative of how those of my era behaved like. What they inwardly thought." Helios lectured.

"Hmmm? Ah. They have gotten desperate at last. But this is also part of the calculations." XY suddenly commented.

They saw how Laser Man had instead begun to try to absorb the energy of the walls into his body while the program also began to siphon some of it to create spikes around its surface.

"I see. They know that attacking them will only rebound the attacks so they will try to deplete their energy instead." Geo observed.

"Yes. However, there is a limit to how much energy a Net Navi like Laser Man can actually absorb. Even if they try to release it into the environment, it will simply reform the walls and their effort will have been in naught." XY explained.

"So that means that sooner or later their bodies will be unable to store that energy and it might begin to pour out of them… Wait. No. It would actually make the core's mass bigger but it will reach a point the body cannot contain it anymore and will begin consuming the body to grow bigger and bigger… It will eventually reach critical mass and implode just like a star." Geo calculated with some surprise.

"Correct. Just like the stunt that that program pulled on us the other day to try to defeat us… Now they have fallen for the trap. Their arrogance blinds them indeed. How the mighty have fallen. Fitting." XY looked amused.

"But where will this energy be released? Would not such a huge release of energy damage or destroy the remaining defenses, or trigger an overload in the systems?" Iris worryingly asked.

"We have calculated that already. A series of dampeners will absorb some of the energy and disperse it… It will eventually have lost enough strength to fade on its own… This dampened energy will be temporarily vented into some of the empty rooms here." Helios calmly detailed.

"As expected." Refraction bowed.

"Guo~h! I can absorb it! I am growing stronger! Nothing can stop me anymore! Nothing! Nothing!" Laser Man roared.

"Foolish rebels! I shall take your power and use it to delete you all! Then I shall establish contact with Duo and take all of the templates and evolved Network Navigators onboard its comet before this inferior planet is destroyed! Least it pose a threat to the expansion of our glorious Utopia upon the Universe!" The program gloated.

"I knew it. This thing was intended to be a saboteur, a pawn of Duo to steal technology from other civilizations and assimilate it…" Helios hissed.

"Utopia? Destroying planets? The "Duo Faction" members sure were MAD. What part of that constitutes a "Utopia" to begin with? They sure had lost all common sense!" Geo gasped in horror.

"Yes. And your adoptive father and his accomplices were going to cause something like that again out of arrogance and believing the lies of one of those fools…" Helios icily muttered.

"… Wait! Destroying this planet? Then I won't be able to have my revenge! I hadn't heard of that! You lied to me!" Laser Man suddenly accused the program.

"You had no need to know, Template! You are but a Template, one of many I have secured for Duo to assimilate!"

"Duo? That freakish monster thing? Then you only wanted to use me to get that thing to come and destroy Earth? Huh? You finally revealed your true colors!" Laser Man growled.

"Silence, Template!"

"I'm not your puppet! My only goal is destroying Styx! Then ruling this Cyber World! How can I rule if you plan to destroy the whole planet, huh? You're actually on the way!"

"Excellent. Let trash fight trash." Iris grinned.

"Hmpf. How fitting. It cannot even wholly control something as stupid as Laser Man. Which confirms what we suspected already… This program IS STUPID." XY was amused too.

"Hmpf! You wanted this energy so bad… Then have it back! And be destroyed by it!"

"Foolish Template! I am a masterpiece! The likes of you defective Network Navigators cannot damage me!"

"Don't get conceited, useless junk! I AM the masterpiece!"

"Ridiculous! I have survived millennia! I have INFINITE POWER!"

"Hmpf! Wrong! Hatred itself is INFINITE POWER!"

"You want infinite power so badly; go steal the Infinity Gauntlet from Thanos… However, before you can he'll snap you to oblivion with it. Now, that would actually do us a favor…" Iris ironically muttered.

"That would be truly ironic indeed." Helios agreed with her.

"Basically… A fictional character that gains an artifact powered by some gems containing essences of the Universe…And which allows it to do whatever it wants with a snap of the fingers…" XY summarized for Geo and Refraction.

"That would be useful. Snap your fingers and make the fools vanish. It would save us so many headaches." Geo chuckled.

"Hum. What was that name again…? Ah, yes. "And then there were none"…" Helios recalled.

"Destroy Lasers! Take all of this energy and overload!"

"Fool! You will be destroyed too!"

"Hmpf! My body might! But my hatred and grudge will live on and I will destroy Styx with it!" Laser Man gloated.

"Now he believes he's the "Demise" from _Skyward Sword_… The demon king that gloated about starting a cycle of his hatred and grudge chasing the hero and the goddess forever…" Iris rolled her eyes.

"What is a demon king?" Geo asked.

"Basically… It applies to any character that rules over the so-called "demons", lifeforms spurred by hatred and a desire to rule over all other lifeforms… A classic type of character found in fiction…" XY summarized for Geo.

"I see. Put in another way… A character that believes that its power is infinite and they can do anything if they set their mind to it even if they lack a physical body?" Geo suggested.

"Yes. You could describe it as so." Iris agreed.

"Hum. This is about to implode indeed!" XY warned.

While most of the walls and ceiling layers had vanished, the spheroid had grown to a monstrous size as Laser Man kept on absorbing energy from the surrounding and outputting it as continuous laser beams aimed at the spheroid.

"If only you'd kept your trap shut, I might've tolerated you a bit longer but… Meh. Eventually I'd disposed of you. I won't let anything get in the way of my revenge! Dread Baron, Kuroban, Slur, XY… They all got in my way! However, not anymore! Because my new form as hatred and grudge will destroy them, too!" Laser Man gloated.

"Foolish Template! I already have your data! I only need to create an army of mindless copies of you and delete all rebels!"

"Hmpf! You might create the copies… However, they will lack the hatred and grudge that makes me invincible! They will be but watered down copies of me that will amount to nothing! Mere ants! Even if you had a million of them, it would not make any difference!"

"In that we can agree." XY drily muttered.

"Lord. I apologize for the intrusion. We have an issue." Guts Style suddenly reported over the radio.

"Issue?" XY frowned.

"Laser Man."

"What do you mean? We have already contained him within the security layers and…" XY began to reply.

"What I mean is that another Laser Man has formed from within the capsule it used to be at, where it was in the process of being reconverted…!" Shield Style explained.

"What? By the stars! It actually kept its data stored within the capsule OS memory?" XY gasped.

"I remember we did not check its systems afterwards." Helios muttered.

"Unlike last time, this one is fully functional so…" Custom Style reported.

"What is more: it has modified itself to increase the output of its attacks as well!" Guts Style added.

"Confess, Styx! You're camouflaging as one of these! Which of these is it, huh?" Laser Man's voice echoed from that end.

"Sheesh. Styx ain't here to begin with. Never was. We're the Four Warriors of the Style Change ability!" Guts Style switched to "modern" speech as he complained.

"Damn! Now I remember! This is XY's city! I thought it was _Purgatory_! Sheesh!" Laser Man grumbled.

"Both you and your copy sure have defective flash memory." Custom Style grumbled.

"What copy? I am UNIQUE!" Laser Man roared.

"Save your breath, brethren. It's pointless to try to reason with this airhead to begin with." Shield Style fumed.

"I wholeheartedly agree." Brother Style sighed.

"UGROOOHHHHH!"

"UGRAAAHHHH!"

In the meanwhile, the program reached critical mass and it imploded, its powerful energy instantly vaporizing the Laser Man copy; XY quickly inputted some commands as energy began to be routed across the city through countless channels and then expelled in the cavern within the mountain where the whole city was hidden at; when entering in contact with the air, it turned into hot air that was expelled through vents communicating with the outside.

"… All energy released. No damage detected to any systems. I had isolate the whole section beforehand so the computer's security layers are unaffected." XY reported, sighing in relief.

"Good work. Now the issue is… How do we deal with Laser Man?"

"We can combine forces." Refraction offered.

"Good point. You are an expert at light manipulation. We can use it to our advantage. Come along as well, Iris. Your healing abilities might be useful to us as well." XY told her.

"Roger that."

"Master and Geo, please wait here."

"Of course. I will seal the room to be on the safe side and protect it with anti-transfer fields." Helios nodded in agreement.

The trio of Navis warped out of the room and into the main area of the city; they quickly spotted Laser Man and the Four Warriors fighting in a landing atop a set of stairs and in front of two huge stone doors with a symbol carved in them; Iris assumed her "battle form" as well.

"Huh? Ah! There you are, XY! So you finally showed your face, huh? Always hiding behind that golden curtain thing…! I knew it, you and Slur are of the same maker!" Laser Man growled.

"And what if? Will that help you win? Will that make you stronger? Will it simply delude you into thinking that you have become stronger? Which will it be, child?" XY dully asked.

"CHILD? ME?" He growled.

"Yeah. You behave like a spoiled kid to begin with, Dullahan. You never knew how to behave like a mature adult." Iris taunted.

"Truly." Refraction dully added.

"Shade Man was way more mature than you." She added.

"What! Ridiculous!" He growled.

"You have two choices. Surrender and I will free you of your suffering. Fight to the end like a "man" and die a pointless death. You cannot run away from my domains." XY told him.

"So you can't do what you did years ago. Blues kicked your ass, you chickened, told Styx to flee and he absorbed you to teach you a lesson on how a Darkloid fights to the end. Like you'd told him to do."

"Damn them all! Fine! I'll begin by destroying Blues, the root of it all! Then that stupid kid who I used as basis to make Styx! And then Forte for failing to do my bidding!" He growled.

"Pfffttt. Blues is hardly the root of it all. You're the one who wanted to use Forte as a puppet. Just like Dark Man & co, the "Dark Four Heavenly Kings"… So much gloating of "don't put us on the same boat" and "we're the true Dark Net Navis"… You're the same, for all ends and purposes. Those guys were also puppets of Regal. They were not aware of it so that's why they thought that they had spawned on their own." Iris laughed at his stupid complains.

"Wha~t? Me? I was created by a human? I was not born of the hatred and grudge of the Cyber World?" He gasped.

"You were not. While I did create that "dimension"… Neither Shade Man nor Cloud Man "spawned on your own". You did not, either! You suddenly appeared there from one day to the other and assumed so. I knew from the start there was someone behind it but at the time I was unable to figure out who it was…" XY sighed.

"You were all tools and pawns made in the process of creating Nebula Grey to rule over the Cyber World. That's all you were. I wouldn't be surprised if he's the one that spurred you to create Styx to absorb Forte's power… When that failed, he spurred Colonel to label Rock Man's "Soul Unison" as dangerous and to blame him for Serenade's death, trying to make him be consumed by revenge… And use it to power up Nebula Grey while he was at it." Iris shrugged.

"Everything was… For the sake of that stupid monster?"

"Want proof? We have a recording of his gloats and confessions after he was arrested. And of his computers, where he kept detailed copies of you guys ready to use if he needed…"

"No…! This can't be happening…! No…!"

"I am afraid it is symptoms of eluding reality, Lord."

"No wonder. Was not expecting him to assume the reality anyway."

"Well. At least we tried. That's what counts." Iris shrugged.

"No! The root of all is Styx! Styx! STYX!"

"You're like a broken record, always repeating the same thing over and over again." Iris taunted.

"Graa~hhh!"

Laser Man ran towards the doors while loading energy on his cannons and shot at them, only for the blasts to be deflected back at him and making him fall on the floor from the recoil.

"What did I just say? You cannot escape my domains. Did you think I never considered you or the other "Jet-Black Phoenix" members would attempt to do that?" XY reminded him.

"That is exactly what happened last time. You tried to run away despite your weakened state. You left us no choice but to delete you." Guts Style added.

"What! Defeated by some brats again!" He growled.

"You underestimate the opponent out of arrogance. So many did, and so many still do." XY dully lectured.

"Sheesh… Laser Man. Use the CPU. Revenge is… a lie. It doesn't achieve anything. It makes you feel emptier than what you were before. Because you just became what you hated." Iris told him.

"What would a weakling know?"

"I know. Because until recently I was possessed by it. XY here freed me from it. That's why I'm helping in exchange. I have seen all that I have done in the name of my revenge, and now I can tell how terrific it actually is… I also thought the same… That my hatred would make me invincible. That nothing would be able to stop me. Well, I was very mistaken. Had I kept on, I would probably have lost the meaning to living…" Iris sighed as she tried to explain to him.

"Guh…! T-that can't be…!" He gasped.

"It can be. While I made the target of my hatred suffer… I wasn't satisfied with that. Deleting them wouldn't please me either. Even if you could have revenge on Styx… Would that satisfy you? Probably not. You'll go in a spree to delete anything you don't like. What would be left at the end of it? Nothing. You'd be an empty husk, with no purpose." Iris warned him as she signaled him with her right hand.

"Guh… Kuh… No…! No…! I… Am perfect! I am above those! I will rule the world, and hatred will feed me!"

"You complained so much about Nebula Grey and now you say you wanna become something like it." Iris pointed out.

Laser Man grumbled under his breath because it was obvious he was being unable to answer back anymore; he suddenly ran towards Iris but she simply stepped asides and Laser Man plunged headfirst down the long stairs, rolling them down until the base of them.

"Well. There goes all attempts to convince him. Guess it's clear enough he'll never admit to it. I don't think it's worth it trying to purge him. This guy was built to be hatred itself. It's so rooted down on the essence of his persona that it's probably going to be near impossible to remove it." Iris concluded with a sigh and shaking her head.

"Yes. That is why I was struggling so much to purge it compared to the other Net Navis I rebuilt as part of "Jet-Black Phoenix"… I should have realized earlier but other things recalled my attention and never got around to do an in-depth examination. Yet another thing I overlooked, and I assume responsibility for it." XY admitted.

"What is the verdict, then, Lord?" Refraction asked.

"We will let him "fight to the end", since he seems so stubborn in doing that to begin with. He will eventually commit a mistake. We will not work actively to delete him." XY ordered.

"As you command, Lord." He bowed.

The trio nodded in agreement, as they warped to the base of the stairs to join the Four Warriors in the fight.

"Use your abilities to show him how meaningless his attacks really are, Refraction. That will lure him into making more mistakes." XY instructed him.

"Understood, Lord."

Refraction ran towards Laser Man while spreading his white cloth to form the shape of a cape; his main body beneath it was almost identical in design to XY's save for the chest, where he had the same crest that was drawn in the doors of the city.

"Over here." He taunted.

"Die! Cross Laser!"

"Slow."

"What!"

Laser Man shot a laser that end in a cross but Refraction had already moved the cloth to before him and deflected it diagonally; he quickly warped to where the bounced laser was heading to and bounced it again to hit Laser Man's back; he groaned and warped towards Refraction's location but he had readied a spear of light which he stabbed inside of the right tube before gracefully turning his cloth into a hang-glider and diving away, above Laser Man's head, while Laser Man was just shooting a beam from the left cannon; Laser Man gasped as he landed on the ground and whipped around; Refraction had already landed and turned his cloth into a pyramid the vertex of which was aiming for himself; Laser Man growled and shot two beams from the palms of his hands into the pyramid; they converged into a kaleidoscope which broke them down into basic light which emerged from it towards Laser Man, momentarily blinding him; Iris and the Four Warriors, looking from a distance, were visibly surprised by Refraction's battling style.

"T-that's ridiculous! How can such a weakling…?" He growled.

"Lord XY already told you to not to look down on opponents."

"Damn them all! I am the master of light!"

"No, you are not. You only think of using it for destruction. While I only seek to make practical uses of it." Refraction calmly replied.

"Yes! Destruction! I am destruction incarnate! The world desires destruction! I will take over all WMDs in the world and use them to raze the humans! Then I will build my own world of darkness! Let that monster Duo come! I will destroy it!" He gloated.

"No need to bother. We already did so." XY drily told him.

"Damn it. And here I wanted to take over its spaceship and expand the world of darkness into other planets!"

"Fool. While Duo was a defective… It was still powerful enough to eliminate little nuisances like you with a mere _thought_. You would not have lasted even 3 _seconds_ in front of it." XY grumbled.

Laser Man seemed to fell a shiver go down his spine and quickly shook the head as if to deny that but his whole body was shivering by now; it'd seemed that XY's words has left a deep impact on him.

"Whatever! Change of plans! There must be a central computer! I will absorb all data from it and use it to become invincible!"

"However… You will have to get past all of us firstly." Refraction reminded him.

"Hmpf! Easy task! Star Breaker Laser…! Ugrah!"

Laser Man loaded his guns and aimed them skywards but the right one blew up when he tried to fire it because the spear was still stuck inside of it; Laser Man growled and aimed the left one at Refraction as he ran towards him; he shot a powerful red blast but Refraction suddenly turned invisible and vanished from sight; several knives made of light rained down in the area followed by a sudden thrust from behind into the left cannon by a sword; Laser Man whipped around and swung his arms to try to hit Refraction but he was clearly not there anymore; he reappeared in the ground in front of Laser Man and suddenly made his cloth extend across the ground; some portions grew from the sides and they all converged on Laser Man, wrapping him inside of it.

"Are you ready? Here I go."

Refraction charged up energy as he formed a sword of light and began to slash around Laser Man at very quick speed; he finished by plunging his sword through the upper torso and the cloths fell off; Laser Man dropped his knees, greatly weakened and with many searing cuts glowing golden and from which data leaked.

"I-impossible… That speed is ridiculous… Not even Blues could move this fast…! I can't believe that… I can't feel any hatred from either of you…! This is ridiculous…!"

"I am not built to process that emotion." Refraction dully replied.

"Same." XY shrugged.

"There's no point to it." The Four Warriors lectured.

"That's what I was trying to explain but you ignored me." Iris shrugged.

"Well?" XY asked.

"Damn you all! So be it! I will abandon this flesh but my hatred will consume you and everything else!" Laser Man roared.

He began to glow in a menacing red light as he stood up somehow and ran towards XY but he simply stood there and stretched his right arm; he absorbed the inertia from Laser Man's dash and channeled it out as an outburst of wind towards the rear; he sighed and then made his left hand glow as he pressed it over the chest emblem; Laser Man's body began to be deleted starting from the core and expanding outwards until nothing was left from him; he hung his head down and closed his eyes while shaking his head in resignation.

"Poor child. You were born hating. You had no salvation. I was a fool to believe so. At least you did not suffer. Rest in silence…" He whispered.

Everyone else also hung their heads down; Helios and Geo walked over them and they did the same as silence filled the air.

_We shall put an end to this cycle of sadness and misery…_


	16. Chapter 16: Azure Power

**Chapter 16: Azure Power**

18:04 PM (Japan Time), Friday April 28th…

"… So that program thing is still out there?"

"Yeah, Dad… What XY defeated yesterday was the main core, about 60% of it, but a spinoff of it, the remaining 20%, is still out there…"

"Huh? Shouldn't it be 40%?"

"No. What detonated on the school the other day also amounted for 20%, that's why. It cannot make a whole copy of itself, fortunately enough. It must sacrifice a portion of itself…"

"I see. Well, we should be glad of it."

Netto and Saito were talking to their father as they sat opposite each other across a table in his lab.

"I wouldn't be surprised if tries to break in into the systems here. Looks like it's obsessed with copying my data." Saito warned.

"Yes, Slur actually contacted me to warn me about it. I installed the security system she suggested. Nevertheless… Calling it "salvation" when it just wants to become king of the world and turn all of the powerful Navis into mindless puppets… For a program, it sure can be hypocrite. Who'd said it?" He sighed.

"Yeah. It sure is." Netto shrugged.

"And to think the root of all disgraces was under our noses the whole time… We've been so blind…" Yuuichirou muttered.

"Yeah… At least they got the punishment they deserve."

"Truly. What a coward."

"Warning! Warning! Intrusion in Level 1!"

"What?" They gasped.

"It's an army of Knight Man copies!" The PA announced.

"Knight Man…? Oh yeah. One of the Navis of "Gospel"… Talk about a nostalgic name." Netto recalled.

"Hmmm… If memory serves, it was a foe hard to chew. His armor is pretty thick." Saito recalled next.

"But how did they get past the security?"

"I suspect there's an insider…" Netto suggested.

"An insider, huh? Yes. That must be it." Yuuichirou agreed.

"Well. Time for some action as "Rock Man"… Let's get this show on the road, Netto-kun." Saito stood up.

"Roger."

Saito headed over to a nearby stretched and lied face-up on it as he closed his eyes; Netto checked his PET as Rock Man warped in; he silently nodded in agreement and aimed it at a nearby Plug-In port.

"Plug In! Rock Man EXE, Transmission!"

Rock Man entered the system and found an army of Knight Man copies waiting for him; he merely lifted an eyebrow as if to show he was slightly impressed but kept cool as he looked around; he drew his Rock Buster and quickly shot several of the discs flying for him; he glanced over his right shoulder and quickly dropped a Quake Virus on that locations; a groan rang out as something was crushed beneath it; the camouflage of the foe deactivated as Shadow Man became visible; he had one of those discs closed around his neck and he glowing in a red aura.

"I see. He used Shadow Man's abilities to fake IDs to fool the IDS and make its way in." He calmly analyzed aloud.

"Or maybe that's also a red herring." Netto suggested.

"Anyway… Let's get this thing off Shadow Man to begin with."

"Alright. We found out their weakness so…"

"Sure. Let's do it."

"Battle Chip, Golden Fist! Slot In!"

"Hrah!"

"Gruwah!"

He formed the Golden Fist and closed it around the disc on Shadow Man's neck; he applied force and cracks began to form around it until it eventually broke into pieces; the aura surrounding Shadow Man vanished and he clutched his head.

"Guh… Where am I? I was exploring the Reverse Internet and something suddenly closed around my neck…"

"Some jerk was using you as a pawn… You better get out of here if you don't want to battle all of THESE." Rock Man replied.

He signaled the closing in copies of Knight Man; Shadow Man gasped quickly left the system while Rock Man quickly drew a bluish blade frizzling with electricity.

"This is the "Azure Blade"… Who wants to get a taste of it? I guess you all do, huh? Fine. Let's go!" He challenged the copies.

He rushed forward and swung the blade horizontally yet it turned out the copies weren't solid but holograms; he didn't lose his impulse and kept running forward until he spotted a Knight Man colored black behind all of the hologram rows; Rock Man jumped into the air as the black Knight Man aimed his Royal Wrecking Ball at him; Rock Man suddenly flung the blade at him, letting of it, and it dived for the chest, firstly hitting Knight Man with a streak of lightning to stun him and then the blade itself pierced through the body; the fake growled and was deleted, revealing the familiar core program inside of it yet it looked smaller than the usual; the program growled.

"Hmmm… I see. From the 20% you had left, you made another portion because you couldn't stake it all on this attack… I guess that this amounts to about 10%..." Rock Man calmly deduced.

"So you finally appeared! Azure hero! The template I sought!"

"Who said anything about me making it easy for you? Why don't you go solve the mysteries of quantic physics?" Rock Man taunted.

"What was that? Impudence!"

"Using old-timer words doesn't make you smarter."

"What does that mean?" The program growled.

"Look it up on a dictionary."

"… SUCH HERESY!" The program suddenly growled as if it had bothered to look it up.

"Heresy? Sheesh." Yuuichirou grumbled.

"It's called "irony" but I don't think you'd understand it to begin with, Mr. Growling Complaining Junk." Rock Man drily shot back.

He closed his right fist as cyan energy travelled across his body and focused on his right fist; the program suddenly dashed towards Rock Man but he simply formed a cyan and semi-transparent version of the Golden Fist Battle Chip; he smacked it at the program and it growled as a cyan and semi-transparent sphere overlapped it; it began to shrink along with the main program until it reached a minute scale and all compressed energy imploded, making a shockwave which Rock Man stopped by extending both hands forward; there was a groan as a Quake Virus dropped atop an invisible attacker trying to creep on him from behind.

"Judge Man. I knew it. You were the "insider"… What the Four Warriors fought in Eastern Europe was actually a decoy to make us think you had a base of operations there. But you were actually hiding here the whole time and waiting for me to appear…" He called out.

"Gruh! Devil!"

The Quake Virus had trapped Judge Man under its weight and he groaned as he tried to raise his body from the floor; Rock Man turned around and looked down on him in an unimpressed manner, crossing his arms.

"What's with that face?" Judge Man growled.

"Dunno. Maybe you disappoint me. I was remembering you to act much smarter during the stupid "game" of tag we did years ago in the domain of the Cybeasts… Thought that XY removing the feeling of revenge from you would've made you smarter but it didn't, sadly enough. You've been acting like a spoiled kid instead." He sighed.

"Spoiled kid! Me! Tell that to that useless program! Gloating about salvation and all but unable to even replicate itself! Such a piece of junk, I laugh at it!" He growled back.

"In that we agree."

Judge Man growled and warped from beneath the weight to try to attack Rock Man with his electrical whip but Rock Man merely caught it and channeled the electricity around his right arm, to Judge Man's disbelief; he then sent it back along the whip with its polarity reversed, thus harming Judge Man, who stepped back; Rock Man rushed towards him and closed his fists as he delivered a couple of punches; one to the abdomen and another to the right cheek; Judge Man kept on recoiling but Rock Man merely glanced at the ground for a moment and then activated Hover Boots before shooting a simple Rock Buster shot at the ground, detonating an invisible Stealth Mine.

"Well? How about you give it up?"

"Ridiculous! When did you become so strong?" Judge Man gasped.

"When? Dunno. Did you think I did _nothing_ all these years? I kept training and analyzing many battle patterns… I lately decided to not to settle on a battle pattern but adapt my body to channel different types of energies and be able to respond to many situations… What I used on that program was a recreation of the "Saito Style"… Although at a much lesser scale, of course…" He calmly replied.

"Sheesh. Should've imagined it. Andy and you were comrades; of course you would be training together."

"Correct. Now, is that all you came to say? Book Man."

"I hate that name!"

"Blame whoever designed you to rather look like a collage of books rather than a judge…They should've used the judge from the _Gyakuten Saiban_ game series…" Rock Man shot back.

"Sheesh!"

"I apologize for the wait. That barrier took a bit of work to get around… Now, where is the defective?"

"Huh! You're XY!"

"Hmm? Well. You are Judge Man. Here is where you were at, then. Moreover, my men were chasing a decoy in vain. Talk about "the darkest place is under the candlestick" indeed."

XY appeared on the scene and merely lifted an eyebrow when seeing the state of things, he didn't seem too surprised.

"As for the program… I deleted it. But it was like 10% of the remaining mass which means that there's still a portion out there."

"I see. It might split itself in another two halves again… With the obsession that it has with "logic", I do not think it will use random percentages… I could be mistaken, though." XY rubbed his chin.

"Where is Lady Iris? XY!" Judge Man demanded.

"Very close by." He replied.

"Indeed. Can't you look around, Judge Man?"

"Huh! L-Lady Iris! So you were alive!"

"Yeah, I am. Before you ask… I have all of my memories. I am aware of all I did."

Judge Man turned around as Iris (wearing her "battle form") appeared on the scene, sighing.

"I agree with Rock Man. You've been behaving like a spoiled kid. Instead of trying to do smart things or useful things, all you've done is start brawls out there and headaches. When will you learn to behave like an adult?"

"T-that is… I thought that was your will, my lady…"

"While it's true that I began having brawls with everyone because I wasn't satisfied with just making Colonel suffer, I never said to keep doing that the whole time either… And I don't like how you "interpret" what I want or I don't want out of the blue." She replied.

"Are you sure that that stupid program is not the one that incited you to use the robot to attack Golden Star?" Rock Man added.

"Ghaahgdskh!" He growled something undecipherable.

"Thought as much." XY wasn't impressed.

"Freeze! All of you!"

"Huh? Who are those?"

A platoon of soldier Navis suddenly appeared on the system, drawing machineguns at all of them, yet none was too surprised.

"JSDF Special Forces!" One of them announced.

"What are the JSDF Special Forces doing here? This is competency of the Net Police Cyber CID." Rock Man argued back.

"It has been dismantled!"

"HUH?"

"Because they were conspiring with terrorists!"

"Oh come on. That's ridiculous." Iris groaned, annoyed.

"Hello? Superintendent Oda? It's me, Hikari Yuuichirou… Is it true that the Net Police Cyber CID has been dismantled?" Yuuichirou had begun calling Oda through the cellphone.

"What? Of course not! Who says that?" Oda grumbled back.

"Some Navis claiming to be "JSDF Special Forces"…"

"That's such a crappy lie. It's either some massive misinformation or some wannabes trying to capture whoever's in the Science Labs' systems!"

"You heard that." Rock Man told them.

"Damn it! What happened to the jamming devices?" The leader of the group growled.

"Why does that sound familiar…? Oh yeah. Shadow Nova. The "Unlucky Greeks"… They were led to believe some "special unit" would eliminate the person they were imitating to avoid being exposed as fakes… But there was no such thing, it was all a lie." Iris recalled.

"Are you really JSDF Special Forces to begin with?" Judge Man questioned with some annoyance.

"Hello? Is this the JSDF HQ? I would like to do an enquiry. Is there such a thing as Cyber World "JSDF Special Forces"?" Yuuichirou had placed another call in the meanwhile.

"No, sir. I checked the database but there's no such force, sir. There's no classified division in the JSDF, sir."

"Devil!" The leader gasped.

"I see. So these Navis over here are simply some wannabes trying to use that as an excuse to steal our data…"

"Very likely, sir! I will ring the alert, sir. Maybe there could be others who could be fooled by them. If you will excuse me, sir…"

"Of course. Thank you for the information."

"Hey, Boss! What part of this was supposed to be a "perfect plan" to begin with? Wasn't this gonna be "a piece of a cake" and that "we'll end up as billionaires"?" One grunt complained.

"Oh yeah! What happened to all of that?"

"B-but… The Executive said so…" The leader argued back.

"Are you sure that that guy was a Seraphs executive to begin with?"

"Wasn't it one of those scammers out there?"

"Yeah! What's the answer?"

"W-well, I was sure that…"

"Sheesh! Let's go back. What a waste of time and energies."

"Yeah. Let's go have some brawls."

"No time to stick around this moron!"

"No! Hold on, you dumbasses! Now's the moment of triumph!"

The fake soldiers began to leave and the boss tried to stop them but with no success; they were soon all gone and he was left alone to face the bad mood of the other four Navis; he growled and began to step back before running out as well; they all grumbled in annoyance.

"Oh come on. It was but a bunch of idiots who got scammed!" Netto groaned, annoyed.

"Why hasn't anyone restored the security yet?" Yuuichirou complained over an interphone.

"W-we though they really were JSDF, sir, so…"

"You let them in? Oh, come on! You must ask for their ID to begin with! Don't take anything at face value! And even less with so many scammers out there!" He groaned.

"Y-yes, sir…! We will be careful, sir…!"

"Oh yes! I forgot to mention it… Heh, heh." Judge Man suddenly got amused.

"What." Iris annoyingly asked.

"Rock Man! By lurking here, I have found out the reason of your "lack of activity" over the years, and why nobody could seemingly find you… You were posing as a human in the real world!" He gloated.

"Yeah, and? I figured that much by myself too." Iris sighed.

"Is… that so?" Judge Man seemed surprised.

"So what? You wanna blackmail us?" Netto grumbled.

"A judge becoming a blackmailer? Talk about a corrupt judge indeed. No different from those he's supposed to condemn." Rock Man merely lifted an eyebrow.

"Huff!" Yuuichirou fumed.

"So you want to be the same as that bastard who closed you, Element Man and me in that rotten hole for years? That bastard used as materials to blackmail Colonel and stop his investigations into the guy's embezzling and bribing." Iris scolded.

"Huh! When you put it like that…"

"What. You couldn't even realize such a simple thing. What happened to your "wisdom"? Maybe you never had any and only pretended to have it to begin with? You were a scammer all along?"

"N-no, Lady Iris! I am no scammer and I am not a blackmailer, either! I-it's just that… Information is power, my lady!"

"I know that! Do you think I'm DUMB?" She got annoyed.

"N-no, my lady!"

"PROVE IT YOU MORON!" She snapped.

"Y-yes, my lady!"

"Are you going to turn out to be a hypocrite like that piece of junk? You only care about making yourself feel great?"

"W-well, t-that is…"

"That's a CONFESSION!" She signaled him.

"I totally agree." XY drily muttered.

"Who programmed his AI, anyway?" Yuuichirou rolled his eyes.

"I guess some lazy jerk who wanted this Book Man over here to be a copy of himself." Iris fumed.

"No way!" Judge Man gasped.

"It's not like it's that hard, since the core program and everything also comes pre-installed. You only have to change the body shape and then input the desired value in range of 0 to 10. So even if you're not an expert in AI or programming languages… Almost anyone can customize a Navi within established parameters." Yuuichirou explained.

"Well? How about you surrender? That way your sentence can be lightened a bit." Iris told him.

"I apologize, my lady, but the time is not ripe yet!"

"And when will it be? In 2020?" She ironically asked.

"Huh? Oh, no! Very soon… Once the preparations for the _final battle_ are ready!" He got cocky all of a sudden.

"Final battle? Oh, come on! This isn't a videogame!" Iris groaned.

"My thirst will not be filled otherwise!"

"I don't care at all. You're a headache. We'll catch you here and now; we've got far more pressing matters than sticking around with you and your ego." Iris fumed.

"What! That piece of junk is more pressing than me?"

"Yeah. Because if it's left unchecked, who knows what mess it's going to start up next… Right, XY?"

"Yes. Now, child. How about you are reasonable? Do you think you can defeat the three of us all by yourself? I know the limits of your abilities very well. Even if you brought in that robot imitation… We can deal with it as well." He took a step forward.

"CHILD? ME? Who do you believe you are?"

"We Net Navis are the children of humankind, after all. Despite appearance of AI… We are all the same. Children." XY calmly replied as he walked forward.

"A-again…! That odd aura that comes with your words… Almost like they're echoing within my body…!" He gasped.

"There is no need to be afraid, child. I am just going to quell that inner anger you have…"

"Guh! Don't come any closer! Stone Fist!"

He formed a Stone Fist and shot it at XY but the air suddenly became humid and caused the stone to weaken and break in mid-air; Judge Man began to step back.

"It would seem you did not learn the lesson. Such "flashy" attacks are meaningless." He lectured.

"I told you to stay away! Stay away!"

He tried to use the flamethrower next but a geyser formed out of the ground and quelled the flames; XY walked through it, unfazed, and Judge Man kept on recoiling until he met the southern wall behind him; he looked around as if trying to find a way out.

"Come to these…!" He muttered.

He suddenly ran towards XY, surprising him, and began to glow while emitting white bursts of light; XY extended his arms forward and stopped him before he could crash into him; Judge Man's core suddenly detonated and caused an explosion to expand across the area; XY crossed his arms to shield himself while Rock Man and Iris did the same; the explosion soon faded and revealed a crater left where Judge Man had been standing at and some data remains.

"… That was a remotely controller copy. I just detected a powerfully encrypted signal jumping outside of the Science Labs' network and towards the Internet." Yuuichirou reported.

"I see. We were completely fooled." XY sighed.

"Sheesh. What a stubborn Book Man." Netto grumbled.

"Truly! What a moron. Final battle? Sheesh. You've got fewer guts than Guts Man, even." Rock Man grumbled.

"Huff! Now what?" Iris asked.

"I have a hunch of where that program could be at. I would need to gather more data to be sure. I will go rendezvous with the others and start a search. You are free to do as you like, Iris." XY replied.

"OK."

"Ah. I apologize, Doctor Hikari. I believe this is the first time we meet in person. I had not introduced myself yet. My name is XY. I am a scientist Net Navi, just like my sibling Slur. It is a pleasure to meet you." He turned around to address Yuuichirou.

"Oh, of course. The pleasure is mine, too. I owe you a lot and I wanted to talk to you to thank you about that."

"Do not feel obliged to. I only did what I thought should be done. In fact, I should apologize. My persistence and obstinacy kept someone away from you for a long time. I apologize."

"Ah… Well, yes… But you did care for them and helped them so I am not angry about it."

"Is that so? I am glad of it. I would like to talk to you more about many topics, but, as you can see, things are hectic. I apologize, but I must leave to start the hunt for the remaining pieces of that program. The sooner we finish it off, the better."

"Of course. We'll talk once things have settled."

"Truly. If you shall apologize me… Goodbye."

XY became invisible and apparently ran off while Iris sighed and shook her head in resignation.

"I need to vent off this bad mood. Guess I'll go have a walk across the forest. Observe some wildlife." She sighed.

"Ah! Before you go, Iris… Can I ask one thing?" Rock Man asked.

"Sure. What is it?"

Rock Man walked over to her and asked something in a whisper next to her ear; she nodded in understanding.

"Sure. It's going smoothly. We're getting along."

"Oh, really? That's great to know. That's all I wanted to ask. Sorry for stalling you." He looked animated.

"Oh, don't mind it. I also owe you for trying to convince me from stopping my pointless revenge. I said a lot of crap to you and your friend on that day, sorry for that."

"I don't mind it. You weren't being rational, it was to be expected. Let's forget about it and move on."

"You're right. I'll be going. See you around."

"Bye."

Iris snapped her right hand fingers to shift appearance to a standard Net Navi and warped out of the system; Rock Man sighed in relief along with the other two.

"Hmmm? A call… Oh. It's Forte." Netto looked at the PET screen.

"Maybe he wants to book a day so we can play Mario Kart together. Patch him through, please, Netto-kun."

"Sure."

"Hey, Rock Man. You guys OK? I heard there's been some fuss." Forte asked once the call was patched in.

"Yeah. It was Judge Man, who fooled us with a decoy. We'll eventually catch him." Rock Man summed up.

"That is good news. What about that hostile program?" Serenade asked as he appeared next to Forte.

"Ah. Serenade. Well. XY has a hunch of where it's hiding so he left to begin hunting it down."

"Phew. Let's hope we can finally solve this mess. Anyway… I was calling to ask if you could over on either Saturday or Sunday so we can play a Mario Kart race together." Forte sighed before asking.

"Let me check the calendar… Hmmm… Yeah. Saturday would do well, let's meet then." Rock Man opened the calendar and checked the notes for both days before confirming.

"OK. On Saturday, then. See ya."

"Goodbye."

"Sure. Bye."

"Glad to see that he's made a total recovery despite all the years he spent consumed by hatred and so…" Yuuichirou sighed.

"Yeah. We know. Serenade helped a lot in that aspect." Netto nodded in agreement.

"Guess that by "final battle" he means he'll use that stupid robot again; this time around we'll have to make sure to destroy it and any copies of its schematics that might still exist…" Rock Man warned.

"Obviously. I'll tell Miquel about it."

"Yeah. Knowing them, they already must have devised some countermeasures against it… Maybe Burai, the lone warrior, can help as well… He's very strong as well." Rock Man suggested.

"I see you keep the morale high. That's great." Yuuichirou got animated.

"Well! Being negative won't help so…" Netto shrugged.

"We gotta help the others stay in high spirits, too." Rock Man added.

"Huh? Mail from Yaito… Oh, come on. "Lock and LOL team up to make a new meme factory!"… It's a pun on "Rock and Roll"!" Netto grumbled.

"She won't be so cherry when her father scolds her again."

"Huff… Anyway. I'll come home tonight so we can have dinner together."

"That's great, dad. Mom missed you." Netto grinned.

"I guess the menu is spaghetti with meatballs." Rock Man grinned, too.

_Let's unite forces! Then those two hinders will be defeated! Here we go!_


	17. Chapter 17: Kyutora

**Chapter 17: Kyutora**

07:37 AM (Bangkok Time), Sunday April 30th…

"… I apologize for summoning you so early, Burai."

"Don't mind it, Helios. I'm an early riser. Besides…"

"What is it?"

"You wouldn't have called for me unless it was something important… Am I right?"

"Heh. Yes. You are correct. I assume I have become very predictable indeed."

Burai had come to meet with Helios in the space-city; Geo was sitting on one of the stone armchairs nearby and silently listening to their conversation; Helios looked slightly amused.

"Like XY suspected… That stupid program thing fled to Kyutora and it has secluded itself in the central computer there. Maybe it thought that by going back to its "origins", it would be able to rebuild itself but… It will not be able to." Helios explained.

"Why's that?" Burai frowned.

"Because it was not created there."

"Ah. I see. It's like a computer virus; it didn't originate in the computer it's infected but somewhere else." Burai realized.

"Exactly. As much as it tries to absorb data from the computer and its sub-servers, it is incompatible with it. It will only cause a rejection and will not be able to integrate. So it will be stuck on its current state, 10% of its original mass and programming."

"I still don't understand why it can't copy itself."

"Oh, it can… However, whoever made it was so smart that programmed it to copy itself… Like cells do. Cells do not create a whole copy out of nowhere; they split themselves and then create a copy."

"I see! It acts like a cell! Cancer cells! It's not a virus, that latches into cells and overwrites them to turn them into copies of itself that will then split and create new copies…" Burai gasped.

"Yes. It is a cell. As simple as that. It is a bit different in the aspect that it can choose which percentage to shed off as part of its copying process, but overall it behaves like a cell."

"Are you sure that it didn't split into two copies of 5% mass?" Burai suddenly asked.

"Absolutely sure. Besides, we already locked down the systems to impede it from running away. We will access it from the real world. That is where you come in. The thing will probably use some pawn to try to put one last desperate fight. We need you to deal with the pawn while XY closes into the thing and can finally destroy it." Helios explained.

"I see. When do we leave?"

"Shortly. In about… 10 minutes. We are finishing the last preparations and will soon use one "portal machine" to transport us to Kyutora. This way we can come and go almost instantly and undetected."

"Excellent."

"I apologize for the interruption, but… I was wondering… Why is one of your hands a mass of energy?" Geo suddenly asked.

"Oh, you mean this? I mostly use it to ignore physical barriers and be able to interact with whatever is beyond them… When I deal with Navis that attack me, I use this to grip their cores and freeze them from the inside without the need to cut up anything." Burai explained as he held the right hand up to the light.

"Interesting!" Geo looked interested.

"Of course, I save it up for hard battles. Most of the time I mostly use my blade or fists."

"Logical. You do not want the enemy to know about your tool to ensure victory… That way they will not be able to develop countermeasures."

"Correct. So? How does this planet feel like insofar?"

"It feels… more authentic than mine, if I have to be blunt." Geo suddenly admitted.

"Really?" Burai was surprised.

"Yes. I mean it. Mine feels… too artificial. Everyone is so obsessed with catching up to our ancestors and, at the same time, avoid their errors… While there is more emotion than in past ages… I nevertheless feel people are still afraid of being honest, of voicing opinions contrary to the mainstream ones… I for once think there is no need to rush so much into catching up with our ancestors… That the purpose of the "time vaults" has been greatly misunderstood…" Geo narrated.

"Given what happened with your adoptive father and his cronies taking that note at face value, that doesn't surprise me. I think we'd do the same if we had such things lying around, too." Burai admitted.

"Nevertheless… Seeing how similar both of our species are… I find it hard to believe it to be a coincidence."

"Oh yes. Believe me, I have pondered over it countless times over the millennia as well. The only reasonable hypothesis I have been able to reach is that there was a species, which was the basis for us and the humans… They seeded two planets at different times in the history of the Universe… These planets eventually developed two species very similar in terms of genetics… Because both originate from the same "source code", if I were to use a programming term… Several science fiction authors have toyed with that idea as well but it might actually be an actual fact rather than a fantasy…" Helios exposed.

"Incredible! That would make a lot of sense, yes, Father!" Geo was impressed as well.

"Thank you. However, as I said, it is but a hypothesis. The only "evidence" I can bring up is the resemblance at a genetic level between us and humans… Nothing else. They probably left no remains of their presence in either planets either."

"Yeah. Else we'd found something by now." Burai agreed.

"By the way, Father… I heard from Iris… It would seem the Network Navigator known as "Judge Man" is planning some "final battle" of some sorts but…" Geo brought up.

"Refraction and the four warriors have been looking into it but have not found anything conclusive yet, sadly enough."

"They should name the jerk "Hiding Man" instead."

"Hmpf. Well, why not? That is what they are doing the whole time to begin with, after all." Helios smirked.

"I was wondering about something else… What makes the Network Navigator known as "Rock Man" so special? He has come to see you, Father, several times… I am aware that he did great deeds in the past, yes, but… What made him stand out from others?"

"Hmmm… Good question. If I had to sum up in a few words… He is very special. He has "infinite possibilities"… His creator was intending for him to be a new generation of Navis that would be able to adapt to all kinds of environments and awaken new abilities on their own… To evolve, if you want to think of it in that way." Helios rubbed his chin with the right hand as he explained.

"Infinite possibilities…! Evolution…! I am sure no one in the home world or the colonies ever thought of so… Self-evolving programs…! Fascinating indeed! Another reason why this planet feels more genuine than the home world… Because they dare to tackle ambiguous subjects that no-one else would dare to…!" Geo was fascinated.

"When you put it like that… You have a point. We were too rigid, but I am afraid our "successors" have also inherited that negative trait as well; you were arguing earlier about not realizing they had misunderstood the purpose of the "time vaults"… They were intended to show them what we were, and why we fell into shame and disgrace… At no point it was intended to mean, "overcome us"…"

"Exactly! That is what I had thought of many times."

"It is a logical thing to think. Do not feel ashamed to voice your ideas aloud, Geo. They might have more potential than you realize. A different point of view always helps." Helios told him.

"Thank you, Father. I shall do so."

"I apologize for the wait, Master. The preparations are complete." XY joined them.

"Good. What about Judge Man? Anything new?"

"As a matter of fact… Yes, Master. They found the remains of an abandoned factory wrecked by what was obviously the weaponry of the robot. It was being tested there. The location was NE of Matsuyama, in the Shikoku Island."

"Hmmm… I see. Maybe they will appear there again. I suggest you place Viruses as lookouts. Did you warn Golden Star and Shunoros as well as the Cyber CID?" He asked.

"Of course, Master. They already received the message."

"Good. Iris?"

"Yeah, here I am." Iris warped in.

"We have to go. Please look after Geo."

"Sure. I had readied a physics lesson for him so… Let's go, Geo."

"Excellent. Psychics is my passion." Geo got animated.

"We will not take too long… So I hope. We will report if something unforeseen delays our return."

"Understood." Both nodded in understanding.

"The machine is loaded and ready, Master."

"Perfect. It is time to put an end to the folly of the "Duo faction", once and for all… The folly that almost led to our complete extinction…!"

"Yes, Master… That is what we have been entrusted with…!"

07:51 (Bangkok Time)…

"… Here we are."

"So the stupid thing is trapped inside, yeah?"

"Correct. Using the same setup as last time… It lacks power to make mass copies in this state… So it can only rely on whatever it has uploaded to its cache…"

"Roger. I'll keep it busy while you finish the preparations to delete that stupid thing once and forever. Did you make sure there was nothing like it in the systems?"

Helios, Burai and XY walked into the central computer of another space-city; this one was decorated with golden and silver patterns across its surface unlike the one in Helios' space-city.

"Accessing…"

XY aimed his hands forward and a 3D display formed, showing the spheroid program trapped within 30 layers of energy walls and simply bouncing around the area the whole time.

"Heh. Like basketball." Burai grinned.

"Truly." Helios liked the irony.

"I will expand the area to some extent so you have room to properly battle whatever pawn it has readied."

"Roger."

"I estimate I need about 5 minutes to ready everything and come in to finish it off. Simply keep it distracted for 5 minutes. Taunt it often so it gets carried away as well." XY instructed.

"5 minutes? Understood. Leave it up to me."

"However, do not get over confident either." Helios warned.

"Yeah. Maybe I'll make it look like I'm struggling. That should get the thing cocky and forget about everything else." He suggested.

"Good idea. Use their arrogance against them. Psychological warfare indeed… Go for it."

"Roger."

"Opening access… Access is open. I will close it behind you but I will be on standby to retrieve if you things suddenly made a turn for the worse. Understood?" XY warned.

"Yeah. I won't complain. Life comes first, after all."

"Alright. Path is open. Arena is ready too."

"OK!"

Burai warped inside of the computer and dived down a cyber-tunnel; he emerged inside of a wide arena made by removing several of the walls trapping the spheroid and drew his sword, which he aimed at it; the thing had stopped bouncing around and was frizzling as black bands of lightning travelled across it.

"A new Template! Good! I shall take your data and with it, eliminate all of the rebels!" It gloated.

"I wonder about that. I think the SA-X was way more of a threat than you've ever been anyway." Burai taunted.

"What?" It growled.

"You're but a foreign cell that was forcibly transplanted into an incompatible organism. I am the antibody come to delete you before you can harm the organism. My blade will slice you down to atoms and you will be wiped out." Burai challenged.

"Hmpf! I have overcome MILLENIA!"

"And what if."

"What!"

"Like I care."

"You heretic!"

"Look up the right definition to begin with. Or are you trying to copy the Prophets from the _Halo_ games?"

"I do not what they are and I do not need to know!"

"Sure. Because this is the end of the road for you. A dead end. Literally. There's no way out anymore."

He quickly shifted his sword to the left hand as he built up energy with the right one and punched the ground to form copies of his hand which flew away from him in all directions and destroyed the flying discs upon contact; Burai quickly warped and stabbed the program through a gap in the belts of lightning; the program howled and quickly warped away as well while glowing in an intermittent manner; a huge figure began to form in the air and Burai dully looked up to it.

"Hah. Should've expected it… The Oreichalcos Shunoros, huh? The inspiration for Kuroban's organization name… I guess this is part of the data that Gray Thunderbolt and his buddies left behind while investigating the systems, time ago…" Burai chuckled.

"Be destroyed!"

"I refuse."

The giant monster formed a thick greenish ring of energy that shot towards Burai but he simply gripped his sword with both hands and hit the disc to bounce it back; the arms detached and hovered in front of it to try to stop it but the attack cut through them and through the giant thing as well; it was deleted and from its shell emerged a large brown and grey snake with yellow pupils.

"Hmpf. "Serpent God Ge" next? But it's taken out of context so it's "infinite ATK" doesn't work on me. Something taken out of context is but a program. No different from a common Virus. Hrah!"

Burai warped and stabbed his sword through the head of the snake; it hissed as it was deleted instantly; several bolts of black lightning shot towards Burai but he deflected them with his "Mu Rejection" barrier back at the source.

"Is that all?" He taunted.

"I am invincible! Your hatred makes me stronger!"

"Guess Laser Man's stupidity infected you, then." He taunted.

"What!"

"I'm not using hatred. At all. You're merely an ant to be crushed. I do not need hatred to do so." Burai shot back.

"Ridiculous! All inferior lifeforms use it!"

"All…? Sheesh. There we go again. You can't generalize things because you'll always be wrong."

"Silence! Heretic rebel!"

"I don't need to listen to a piece of junk. Besides, what guarantee do you have that Duo would let you onboard its comet? Something tells me you weren't part of the thing's instructions. It would have seen you as a foreign, unknown factor, a relic of its creators. It would have probably deleted you with a mere _thought_. Maybe it would have kept the data you collected to study but that's all." Burai smirked.

"R-ridiculous! Duo is MY SERVANT!"

"Pfffttt! That's some EGO there! How can something like Duo, that can destroy whole planets, be the servant of something as meaningless and ridiculous as you?" Burai laughed at it.

"If I say so, then it must be so!"

"Hah. You're one of those fools who think they can shape reality according to their wishes. No one can. Even less a piece of junk like you. Don't you have anything else to use? Ran out of ideas?"

"NO! I can use this to CRUSH you!"

"And this is…? Hmpf. A fortress-type Machine God Soldier… Infamous for its "Titan Stamp" attack, huh?"

"CRUSH IT!"

The giant machine lifted a leg but Burai merely warped and landed atop its head to plunge his blade through it; the head frizzled and the machine began to move wildly without aim or direction so Burai then jumped into the air and plunged his blade with his right hand into the back of the thing; the blade turned purple and "sunk" within the machine until the sound of stabbing could be heard; Burai jumped away as the core exploded and the machine was deleted; he caught the blade as it spun across the air and gracefully landed into the ground.

"I told you. When taken out of context… I can deal with anything you throw at me in whatever way I want. I'm not bound by the gameplay rules to begin with."

"Ridiculous! I have nothing else in memory?" The program growled.

"No wonder. At only 10% of your original mass, you can only store so much cache memory to begin with."

"I apologize for the wait. Preparations are done. Hah!"

"Impossible!"

XY appeared in the area and extended his hands together; azure chains emerged from the ground and tied around the spheroid while drawing away the black lightning and dispersing it into the air; XY walked forward with both hands extended and having a golden glow on them; the program shook the chains but they would not yield.

"I stopped your ability to split and reproduce as well. This is the end, foolish thing. Blame your equally foolish creators and the makers of Duo for this. This is also for all of our comrades that you led to mass suicide, millennia ago… No, that was genocide! However, this is not revenge or retribution… I shall free you from your foolishness and you shall become nothingness, free of pain or foolishness…!" XY announced.

He suddenly dashed forward and placed both hands over the spheroid; it roared as it began to be deleted layer by layer until nothing remained; XY quickly scanned the area.

"… No traces left. All data purged. Master?"

"I confirm that no data has made its way out of the contention field during this time or the last five days." Helios reported.

"Wait. What about the ground?" Burai suddenly pointed.

"Good point. The floor is the only area not covered by the contention field immediately… The field starts 50cm below it. There is the possibility of part of it having used the floor as a new vessel… We will purge the floor as well, to make sure…" XY agreed.

They both hovered some inches over the ground as the energy field formed over it and began to extend downwards, deleting all layers of it as it headed for the field below it; there was a roar of agony as some data was suddenly deleted.

"You were right, Burai. Scanning again, I can see that the spheroid made up 8% of its data. In a last ditch attempt, it poured the last 2% of it into the ground but that meaningless portion is gone too. To be double safe, I will delete this completely isolated sector. I will retrieve you two and delete the tunnel while you make your way back here." Helios announced.

"Understood, Master."

"Roger."

Both hovered towards the tunnel and quickly got in as it closed and deleted as they headed towards the other end; they exited back into the real world as the whole thing was deleted; Helios was operating the holographic panels of the supercomputer and checking all graphs over and over again.

"There's no danger that any of it remained in places it's been at before? Like in the PETs it tried to hack or so." Burai asked.

"We made sure of it before coming here. We applied a vaccine program that spread across the air and silently destroyed any remains of its specific data on contact…" Helios replied.

"We would not have done this if we were not sure of it."

"Excellent."

Some yells in an unknown language rang out behind them and they turned around to see a group of humanoids wearing white helmets with golden faceplates aiming some futuristic-looking weapons at them; there were about 10 of them.

"What?" Helios grumbled.

"That emblem, Master…" XY whispered.

"Colony 2… More accomplices of the rebels? Or maybe some illegal expedition come here for treasures?" Helios grumbled.

"Maybe there was an insider that leaked the existence of this place; it should be top-secret."

"Hm. Alright."

Helios took a step forward; his presence suddenly seemed to turn imposing the intruders seemed to shiver at it as they began to step back and their hands shivered; Helios began to speak to them in a language unknown to Burai; XY moved next to him.

"I will translate… "On whose authority have you come here?"…"

One of the invaders, their commander judging by an emblem on the front of the helmet, stepped forward and shout a reply.

"… "And who authorized you to defile this sanctum?"…"

"Sanctum…? It's but a supercomputer…" Burai sighed, annoyed.

"… "I am here in behalf of the United Science Council. My mission is to catalog all data here. If you want to, I can show you the written authorization. Is that enough for you? Or do you want to use this machine to talk to them in live?"…"

"Heh. I can predict the answer."

"… "This cannot be! We are the chosen ones! The ancestors told us about this sanctum! We have come for the divine revelation!"…"

"Oh come on. More junk left behind by the "Duo faction"…?"

"… "So you mean to say that you do not have authorization from the United Science Council. Neither from the Colony Exploration Council either. Am I right?"…"

"… "We do not need those! The ancestors guide us! The great God Duo will guide us to salvation!"…"

"Sheesh. Almost like that stupid program all over again."

Helios got visibly annoyed, making the invaders shiver in fear again and step back again; he spread his arms as a 3D model of Duo (with the legs) and being as tall as the room formed; the invaders gasped in fear and were obviously about to panic.

"… "This is the Duo you speak of! The destroyer of worlds! It will destroy you as well, if you awaken it! Is that what you desire? To be annihilated by a defective creation of our ancestors? Along with all of your families and the whole of our civilization?"…"

The hologram generated some words in another language, which boomed around the room as it turned into a view of a planet somewhere; an energy ripple formed on one of its ends and several copies of it quickly spread across its surface; the next second a mass of something began to "eat up" the planet at a maddening speed before it was wholly covered in it and it suddenly was deleted as if it had been turned into a giant cluster of data; the invaders dropped to their knees as if stunned and let go of their weapons while clutching their heads.

"I made Duo's voice echo within their helmets. It might not be too moral but I need to disarm these fools at once. XY, Burai. Grab their weapons and break them." He addressed them in Japanese.

"Yes, Master."

"Roger that."

They both rushed towards the invaders and grabbed the weapons, which they broke by hitting them with the knees, as if they were thin branches of a tree; they tossed the broken remains and then walked away; some hurried footsteps rang out along with some yells.

"What now?" Helios grumbled.

Another group arrived; these ones had different emblems and their weapons were colored silver instead; they surrounded the first group who raised their hands while their leader walked over to Helios and bowed before standing up and removing the helmet; it was a man on his 50s or 60s with bluish eyes; Helios seemed to recognize him and both began to speak to each other.

"Relax, Burai. They are the official Exploration Corps. We met them some months ago and that is how we reestablished contact with our civilization. They had gotten a tipoff about these… pirates… stealing a ship and illegally exiting the civilian "space" towards Kyutora, so they were ordered to give chase and capture them before they could loot anything." XY explained the situation to Burai.

"Phew! At least we solved this somehow."

"Yes. Of course, these pirates will be judged because they have committed very grave offences. Their data on the location of Kyutora will be deleted, of course, to keep the place a secret. It would seem they had been looting "Time Vaults" on Colony 2 as of late and there they must have found the same record that he and his two disciples used to come here some months ago…"

"I see. Phew! Man! That was a fright. I must admit it. I was afraid there'd be another _coup d'état_ attempt and that this was a 5th column or something like that." Burai admitted.

"It was not unreasonable to think so. It would seem they are about to implement a system to impede any ship from leaving civilian "space" unauthorized; an emergency protocol would lock manual control and forcibly bring it back to the departure point."

"That would be useful, yeah."

"And of course, all data on Kyutora will be heavily classified and made so that you need the biometric data of 3 or more Science Council members to access it. That will make it impervious to any hacking attempts."

"Yeah. Well, can't blame them. They must've been terribly busy processing the rebels from a while ago and they didn't think anyone would be bold enough to steal weapons, a spaceship and try to loot this place. I'm surprised they could find their way into this area though." Burai commented.

XY addressed Helios in their common language as if wanting the commander of the legal corps to explain; he bowed and explained something to them.

"The commander and his disciples had found the map data of the city before… It would seem that the "pirates" got a hold of them as well, probably by stealing a copy of their reports. They will look deep into the issue to establish the identity of the insiders." XY summarized.

"I see. That makes sense."

"Master simply introduced you as a Net Navi of his own design; least someone in the corps make a slip of the tongue and say they met a real human… You understand, yes?"

"Of course. Nobody will pay much heed if I'm just a Net Navi."

"And that we are speaking in another idiom because we want to have a private conversation. The commander understands our common language so we had to resort to another one we know of."

"Understandable."

"He would like to talk more with Master but duty comes first. His unit will take the pirates back to Colony 2 at once."

"Excellent."

The commander bowed at Helios, who nodded in understanding, and issued orders to his subordinates as he put on the helmet again; they took the pirates, bound by an energy ring on the torso, away.

"Huff! What a morning indeed. Good. All that is left is… Judge Man."

"Yeah… But he'll soon show his hide around anyway… Get ready!"


	18. Chapter 18: Indomitable wills

**Chapter 18: Indomitable wills**

20:20 PM (Japan Time), Saturday May the 6th…

"… Sorry, Boss. I keep on stumbling upon red herrings."

"Do not worry, Zero. XY and Kuroban and Blues also do."

"I can't believe Book Man got smarter all of a sudden."

"Yes. Or that he turned so patient as well."

"But you said that XY had wholly deleted that piece of junk."

"Yes. Regal is in prison, in solitary confinement, and uncommunicated as well… We made sure there were no insiders either."

"Maybe everything he's done was but a farce?"

"Hmmm… Cannot deny the possibility but it feels… too forced."

Zero and Slur were talking inside of the supercomputer's control room; Slur looked unsatisfied while Zero's face was as impassible as ever but from his voice, he also was somewhat puzzled.

"Or maybe… He simply entered sleep mode and set a timer to wake up in some days' time… And thus give the impression he's had the patience to wait for many days…"

"Ah. That sounds more likely." She agreed with it.

A song (more like a whisper or humming) suddenly echoed out of nowhere into the room, surprising both of them; Zero turned on a screen and looked at the Cyber World area before the firewall but there didn't seem to be anything out of place; he tried IR cameras, night view mode, radar, sonic scanning and other frequencies but there didn't seem to be anything hidden there.

"Pharaoh Man. Did you hear that?" Slur asked.

"Yes, Slur-sama! But I see nothing in any frequency, either!"

"That hum… Where did I…?" Zero wondered.

"Hmm? A cloud…? No! Something is dropping from above!" Pharaoh Man suddenly gasped.

"What!"

There was a jolt as alarm graphs popped up one after the other; the DA generators were starting to overload, but, suddenly, as another hum rang out, the energy levels began to drop all of a sudden, effectively turning it off; a graph of the ship appeared showing 3 domes overlapping it; the first one had disappeared; the other two began to flicker as well while their generators' energy was being depleted as well.

"What in the…" Zero cursed.

"T-there is something there! It emits jamming hence why I cannot recognize it through any frequency!" Pharaoh Man gasped.

"Hell. Don't tell me it's what I think it is." Zero growled.

"This is the will of Metraton! The will of the Universe!" An unknown man's voice gloated.

"Oh shit."

"Who…?"

"W-what is that?" Pharaoh Man gasped.

"Shit. I knew it…! Anubis, the Orbital Frame…! From the _Zone of the Enders_ games!" Zero growled.

The robot known as "Anubis" was hovering above _Purgatory_ and emitting some kind of hum as the spear that spun around it was frizzling with the energy stolen from the generators.

"Hah, hah, hah! How's this one like, huh?" Judge Man laughed.

"Sheesh." Zero grumbled.

"You do not get the lesson either. You are no better than that program to begin with. Talk about a disappointment indeed."

"What?"

"That machine might be powerful within the story of that product, but when taken out of context… It is but a 3D model. Its parameters and everything else are pointless outside of its context." Slur dully lectured him.

"Sheesh!"

"So it means nothing. Your dramatics are pointless."

"I wonder about that. I've got the energy from all 12 Dimensional Generators stored in this spear. What'd happen if I were to fire it to the ship below me?" He sneered.

"You fool…!" Slur got annoyed.

"Yeah. Sure. Like we'd allow you to, Book Man." A voice grumbled.

"Huh? What?"

"Eat RPG-7! Let's go, guys!"

"Yeah. Fire!"

Zero switched the cameras to show Tom, Lily, Akemi, Beta X, Sandra, Victor and Alex standing in the desk carrying RPG-7 missile launchers; they all shot them at the "Anubis" and they all met the mark in several spots of the body; Judge Man groaned as the explosions met the mark; Andy suddenly landed atop the head while having a Dream Sword Program Advance ready between his hands; he was about to bring it down in the head but had to jump out as a black and white copy of Judge Man appeared and tried to stab him with a spear; Andy simply jumped into the air while the other Navis (the custom Navis) hovered towards the robot and began to absorb the energy of the spear to then disperse it into the air; they all landed back on the ground.

"You were saying?" Slur taunted.

"Damn it! How can such chaff…!"

"Chaff? That's some arrogance." Tom grumbled.

"Sure thing. We have been training hard for years." Akemi added.

"Yeah. So don't look down on us. You're not almighty either." Beta X warned.

"Oh yeah. Don't get conceited, you rascal." Lily scoffed.

"You're but a bully." Sandra added.

"No better than Sam Merton." Victor smirked.

"Truly." Alex grinned.

"Damn them all! I'll wipe you out!"

"Oh yes? How? With your pitiful puppet?" Slur taunted.

"Sheesh! Witness the power of the Anubis!"

The robot suddenly began to "warp" around while laughing and threw the spear at the deck, only for it to be sucked into a portal Slur formed and warped behind the robot; it was stuck behind the right shoulder and Judge Man groaned.

"Is that all? So much for it."

"Yeah. Spamming "Zero Shift" doesn't help you win. You don't know how to properly use it to begin with. You're just trying to impress us with it but we know better." Zero added.

"Like Slur-sama said… Taken out of context… It's hardly a threat. It's but a toy to begin with." Andy fumed.

"It's invincible!" Judge Man roared.

"Yeah, yeah. Sure, sure."

"I have enough of this farce."

Slur warped and appeared within the cockpit of Anubis where Judge Man was growling and trying to improve something; she formed her wires around him to immobilize him and then touched the cockpit cover to open it up; she jumped out dragging him along and they landed on the deck of _Purgatory_; she tossed him in the middle of it and then turned around to see how Andy used the Dream Sword to slice the robot in half.

"Impossible!"

"So much for the "last battle"." Slur mocked.

"Damn it!"

"Sorry for the delay."

"Excellent. Blues. Take care of the formalities, if you may."

"But of course. And don't smirk at me, you fake."

"Oh come on! Blues! Now's not the time for brawls!"

Blues appeared on the scene and grumbled at Legato, who was standing nearby crossing his arms and grinning, but Enzan ordered him to stop having brawls.

"Huh! I apologize, Enzan-sama!"

"Not yet…! I still have aces in the hole!"

"If you mean those fake policemen who tried to arrest Rock Man's companions' Net Navis with the fake charges of "cooperating with terrorist organizations"… They were seen through at once and we beat them up." Enzan replied.

"What! Damn it! It was a perfect plan!"

"Perfect? That crappy half-improvised farce? Don't make me laugh. It's cheaper than a hot dog." Enzan chuckled.

"And if you mean that fake Superintendent Oda robot that tried to kidnap me, Punk already made scrap out of it." Obihiro added.

"Was so weak!" Punk laughed.

"Truly." Meijin added.

"Fools! Now's when I'll wipe out you for once! Come! Infinitum! Today's my ultimate victory! You're done for!"

"No use. This whole area is surrounded by a dome of jamming which only allows a few frequencies in or out." Slur countered.

"What! Damn it!"

"But you will be telling us where it is… Hah!"

"Guoh!"

Slur gripped his head with the right head to scan his data; she wasn't too surprised.

"Hmpf. Thought as much… Warehouse Number Three… NE of the warehouse where we store the boats and vehicles… I need volunteers to go secure it before anyone else finds it."

"Roger, Slur-sama!"

Several of the Navis warped away while Blues gripped Judge Man by the wires tied around his torso.

"Good. We're going to have plenty of time to "debrief" you and then decide what your sentence will be."

"You lowlifes… What are you planning to do to Lady Iris?"

"Huh? What now?" Enzan sighed.

"Were you badmouthing me again?"

"Yikes!"

Iris (on her "battle form") appeared on the scene, annoyed; Refraction was silently standing behind her.

"I told you. I have my memories of the past. I know what I did wasn't good but then again I was possessed by revenge… Unlike you two, which never seemed to hesitate on engaging on pointless destruction… I always hesitated, and was afraid of thinking of anything else… Therefore, I was given the chance to start anew… To break free from the pointless torment I've gone through… I offered you a chance, too. You turned it down. Now assume the consequences." Iris scolded.

"Gruh! Like I would! I will destroy this world! To prove to Colonel that I was always superior to him! I was supposed to be the leader!"

"What load of crap is that? I know everything about your backstory; you always kept on going over it during our years of imprisoning. I've never heard anything like that. Didn't you just make it up to feed you with illusions that you're greater than what you actually are? Sheesh. How childish. Both you and Element Man." She fumed.

"Are you done?" Blues asked.

"Yeah! I don't want to be a babysitter of some guy who never knew when to grow up! Who's no different from the bastard that closed us up inside of that stinky hole! Let's see if you learn a thing or two during your years at the Navi Prison." She fumed.

"Roger. Take a nap."

"I'm not done…!"

Blues gripped his head with the left hand and forcibly shut him down before warping away with the guy in tow; the others fumed and sighed in relief, obviously annoyed at Judge Man's idiocies.

"Her presence here is not to be announced aloud. That is an order. Understood?" Slur ordered.

"Roger, Slur-sama." They all acknowledged.

"Huh? I feel like there is someone missing?" Slur frowned.

"Napalm Man. You decided to assign him to patrolling the Reverse Internet as an extension of his punishment. That's why I didn't recall the guy here." Zero reminded her.

"Ah true. Burner Man!"

"Yes, Slur-sama!" He stood rigid and gulped.

"Do something useful! You helped program Napalm Man! How about you take out that stupid impulse to get lured in by challenges and always getting into some headache?" She complained.

"R-roger! I shall work on it at once, Slur-sama! I assume responsibly for Napalm Man's shortcomings!"

"You better do." Her glare could kill, even.

He broke into cold sweat and quickly warped away as if to start working on it at once; the others had taken some steps back as well.

"Now, now. Mademoiselle. We finally got rid of the headaches. Why cannot we have a few minutes to enjoy it?" Hades cautiously asked over the radio.

"Fine. Refraction. I will come with you and Iris to XY's lab. There is a topic I want to discuss with him."

"Acknowledged, Lady Slur." He bowed.

"Sure. He looked like he was expecting you, too." Iris added.

"Hmpf. As expected of you, my sibling. You know me well." She closed her eyes and smirked as if pleased at it.

"The robot is secured. We dismantled the pieces to make sure nobody can activate it… Here comes Superintendent Oda with a team to secure them and take them to the HQ." Legato reported over the radio.

"By the way, Superintendent… Did Uncle Silvius appear?" Hades suddenly asked over the radio.

"Huh? Oh no. He must be chilling out there and blaming his arrogance for underestimating wax figures and gramophones." Oda laughed.

"Good. I apologize for the doubt, but seeing how the enemy used a fake to try to fool us…" Hades apologized.

"Oh, don't worry about it, President Hades. I understand. By the way, Legato-kun. Some punks claim they will invent a new sword art and become rich… I think you should teach them some lessons on what real swordsmanship is about." Oda suggested.

"Is that so, sir? I understand. If Slur-sama authorizes me, I shall proceed to show them my skills."

"I authorize. Last I want is some fools than can eventually be a new headache. Do not overdo it either, however."

"As you wish, Slur-sama. I shall go."

"Good hunting, my chap."

"Thank you, sir."

"By the way, my fellows! Did you know the tale about the guy who painted his body red and…?" Oda began.

"Yes, sir… We know the rest… Tried to pose against a red brick wall in a small alley thinking it was the best camouflage either…"

"Oh dear. Guess this one's become famous by now."

"Hmpf. They didn't understand how camouflage works like…" Qong muttered with a hint of amusement.

"Sounds like a Solid Snake imitator!" Tozukana laughed.

"Oh my. Talk about innovative." Ikada giggled.

"How stupid." Suzuki sighed.

"They should've learnt plastic arts instead." Agoras chuckled.

"Sure. Or maybe don't pickpocket to begin with." Atarasei chuckled as well.

"Well, they were asking for trouble so…" Kage chuckled too.

"Uncle Merton's absolute victory." Kuroshiro laughed.

"Alright. I shall be going as well."

Slur warped away along with Refraction and Iris while the other Navis sighed in relief; Andy walked over to the port handrail and stared to the horizon and the moon reflected above it.

"It feels a bit… anticlimactic, even." Beta X admitted.

"Well. Reality isn't like the movies." Andy shrugged.

"Good point. Hey. Better that than struggling with the robot again."

"Oh yeah. Gotta agree." Alex rolled his eyes.

"What now? Sheesh." Zero grumbled.

"What happened?" Hades anxiously asked.

"The riot police suddenly showed up in front of the building and their commander claims they're looking for "weapons and drugs smugglers"… Now an even higher ranked commander has appeared to scold the man saying he took a unit with him without permission and was acting on some random phone call's "tip-off"… I bet anything this was supposed to be another of Judge Man's "ace in the hole"…" Zero sighed.

"Oh by all the… That's PATHETIC! What part of it is supposed to be an ace in the hole? It's lazy and random improvisation using some dumb riot police commander! Which I hope gets expelled from the force! We don't need any of those!" Hades grumbled.

"Sure we don't." Kuroshiro sighed.

"What now? Sheesh. A bunch of pirate wannabes who apparently come from Somalia! Judge Man, you lazy dork!" Zero grumbled.

"Sheesh. That's what he spent all these days for? To try to ready crappy stuff and try to overwhelm us?" Tom grumbled.

"There. Unleashed a Gojira hologram and they ran for their lives while blaming each other, as usual."

"What chicken." Akemi sighed.

"And they're supposed to be pirates?" Sandra sighed.

"More like wannabes…" Lily rolled her eyes.

"Hmmm? Ah. That's something else. Looks like the guy also tried to attack Search Man's unit using a Nidoking but it didn't even last 30 seconds because it was so lazily made. Then tried using a Bangiras on Colonel's unit but lasted less than 20 seconds too. The guy was such a compulsive liar… "Strategist"… Sheesh. Go play _Fire Emblem_ to learn what strategies are about. What a bunch of morons." Zero was exasperated.

"True. They never learn the lesson." Victor rolled his eyes.

"And looks like he tried to send a rampaging Groudon at Shunoros but it lasted less than 45 seconds too."

"When did the guy turn into such a maniac of stealing Pokémon for his stupid lazy stunts?" Alex rolled his eyes too.

"Dunno and I couldn't care less!" Beta X fumed.

"Looks like Shadow Man got to fight a Kekking but since it was acting lazy the whole time, he won in less than 30 seconds too."

"Hmpf. The guy underestimated its laziness." Andy smirked.

"Sure thing, Andy… Guess he got lured in by its high ATK values but forgot about its nature."

"Oh yeah, wouldn't surprise me at all!" Zarashe added.

"Oh dear…" Leon sighed in defeat.

"Huh? Oh, come on. Now it's FBI wannabes." Zero sighed.

"FBI? In Japan? Guy's been seeing too many murder mysteries series to begin with." Kuroshiro grumbled.

"Drove them off with the fake machinegun and they're blaming each other, naturally enough."

"Guess the only thing the jerk was good at was finding types even stupider than him! Don't you get that impression?" Atarasei asked.

"I totally do!" Hades grumbled.

"I apologize, sir!"

"Oh no! I wasn't annoyed at you, Atarasei-kun. It's more like how stupid the whole thing has been to begin with."

"Followed by KGB wannabes in the Cyber World."

"What'll be next? Israel secret service wannabes?" Alex sighed.

"Well, turns out to be exactly the case. Now they've begun fighting each other for "the bounty"…"

"Huff. Sure. Like there was any to begin with. Judge Man? More like Scammer Man." Kuroshiro sighed.

"The man must have leaked the location of the entrance… We will have to relocate it and add new defenses too…" Hades sighed.

"Working on it right now… I'm adding several SP Viruses to the many levels of the Reverse Internet… That should beat up some weaklings and teach them not to wander here."

"Thank you, Mr. Zero."

"It's nothing. It's my duty so… Hmmm? Looks like some punks started up a fuss in the Moscow College Cyber World but were beaten up by Serenade and his disciple Vladimir… Talk about wanting to start a fight with the whole world… What an idiot!" Zero grumbled.

"The guy took Liquid Snake's words too literally when he had no trump card to begin with." Andy sighed.

"Is that the best the guy could do? Rely on fictional characters for ideas and try to copy them?" Kage sighed next.

"And next is… A fuss in the outskirts of Bangkok Internet City. As expected, XY's four warriors came and beat the punks up…"

"Sheesh. Will this stupidity ever end?" Leon groaned.

"I'm fed up. I'll send my own batch of rumors saying Judge Man is a scammer and was intending to sell them off to the police to begin with and flee with their money… That should make some idiots realize they were being used…" Zero grumbled as he typed into a virtual keyboard, judging by the sounds.

"Go ahead. We want to relax and sleep and this stupid streak of ridiculous stunts don't allow us to!" Hades fumed.

"My pleasure! There! I've begun scattering it around. We should see some reactions and effects soon…"

"Hopefully!" Leon sighed.

"Ahem… How about we gather in the cafeteria and have some snacks as a means to celebrate?" Beta X suggested.

"Sure, why not? What do you think, President Hades?" Kuroshiro agreed before asking Hades.

"That would be great to quell the tension indeed." Hades agreed.

"It's agreed, then. Let's get moving there." Andy grinned.

The Navis warped and reappeared inside of a cafeteria space within _Purgatory_; the Operators had already gathered there along with Hades and Kuroshiro (who had his black clothes with hood); chatter had begun to form as they picked drinks which Dark Man and Shade Man served in the counter; Freeze Man generated ice cubes to add to them as well.

"By the way, Vice President _Noir_…" Ikada walked up to him.

"Yes? Ikada-san? What is it?" He asked back.

"I was wondering something… Not showing your face is for the sake of suspense, right? Not because of some accident that disfigured it… Am I wrong?" She asked in a hush.

"… Well… You could say so." He reluctantly admitted.

"Ah! Thought so. Well. I guess it was some form of "intuition"… I apologize if I asked something intimate."

"Oh, don't worry about it. It's but a trivial thing… Before you ask, Tozukana-san, I am not engaging in any "relationship" with Ikada-san… Am I clear enough?" He called out to her as he saw her glancing at them from some meters away.

"Y-yeah… Gotcha…" She nervously nodded.

"By the way, Boss… Maybe tomorrow we could have a Smash Brothers match together to celebrate?" Kage suggested.

"I'm joining as well." Atarasei grinned.

"Oh, but of course! It'll do well to shake off the built up stress."

"I'll pass. I prefer to train in the gym." Alex calmly told them.

"OK. Guess that I'll be playing _Mario Party_ with the Commander. Maybe I'll be lucky this time around." Andy chuckled.

"I'm back, sir. I taught those fools a lesson, sir." Legato returned and reported to Kuroshiro.

"Excellent. By the way, Andy-kun was talking about playing _Mario Party_ with you tomorrow…."

"Is that so, sir? I would be glad to, sir. If you authorize me to, sir." Legato got in a good mood.

"But of course. We need to shake off stress."

"Maybe we can have some paintball…" Qong muttered.

"That'd be fun." Agoras looked amused.

"It's my day off tomorrow so I can enjoy some, yeah." Suzuki looked up from her PET, interested.

"Fortunately I don't have appointments tomorrow either." Ikada checked her agenda too.

"Hmmm… I could go to the mainland and stroll around for a change of airs… I should also check the storeroom I rent and put some order to it as well…" Hades muttered as he rubbed his chin.

"I think it'd you well, sir. You've spent too many days here, sir." Kage suggested.

"You're right, Kage-kun. Maybe I will also go to the library and borrow a book or two to read… I need new horizons."

"By the way… I've been meaning to ask for some time, but… Your "secretary" is actually Slur, right?" Tozukana suddenly asked.

"Yes. She decided to play that role to be able to supervise closely how Navi and Operator influence each other." He admitted.

"Thought so…I've been so SLOW to realize…!" She fumed.

"Ahem… Ikada-san. Please refrain from taunting others." Hades suddenly warned her.

"Huh! Y-yes, sir…" She gulped.

"Same for you, Tozukana-san." He reminded her.

"R-roger, _Danna_…"

"And Qong-kun… Remember what we talked about."

"Roger, sir."

"Sorry for the sudden scolding but I thought a reminder was necessary… Am I clear enough?" He asked them.

They all nodded in understanding and he sighed in relief as he grabbed a glass with orange juice and walked off; Kuroshiro and Kage followed him down the corridor and into the elevator to exit into the deck; Hades stopped by the port side handrails and looked at the sea.

"Good. No one can overhear us here… I supposed neither of the two clowns, that stupid program or Dr. Regal were able to see through the "backstories"? He asked them in a hush.

"No, sir. None was able to. They were too caught up in their own arrogance to begin with, sir." Kuroshiro whispered back.

"Regal was deluded thinking he'd scarred "me" from getting involved with the Cyber World ever again… We totally fooled the man." Kage added.

"Good. His arrogance was his downfall indeed." Hades nodded.

"While Ikada-san has eventually deduced my tale about my face being scarred wasn't true… That doesn't lead anywhere."

"True. Alright. Maybe we should be going back and enjoying the party a bit longer before resting." Hades suggested.

The other two nodded in agreement and they headed back into the cafeteria; some had already left while another few remained.

"Alright. Let us celebrate! Ladies and gentlemen! _Kanpai_!"


	19. Chapter 19: Warriors' break

**Chapter 19: Warriors' break**

08:38 AM (Japan Time), Saturday May 5th…

"… Hey! Oriol! Wake up! Oscar will soon come."

"Oscar… Why…? Oh yeah… The "game", yeah…"

"Heh. It's been a while since last time, no?"

"Can't be helped. We were stressed… Netto-kun."

"Sure. Now we can finally have a well deserved "break day" indeed… Don't you agree?"

"Oh, sure… However, we agreed that we'd be doing it raw… I don't feel like hardcore today…"

"Sure. Some raw isn't bad either."

Kuroshiro mumbled as he woke up from sleeping in his room's king-sized bed; Netto was lying to his right and tapping his right shoulder as he turned around and lied face-up; they were both covered until the waist but they weren't wearing any pajamas.

"To tell you the truth, Netto-kun… Ever since that "incident", years ago… Kanou-san… President Hades… Also thought there was more to it. This is also one reason he designed the plan for you to become someone else… So that you could be active in helping fighting cybercrime but, at the same time, given the culprits the impression that they'd scared you away forever and that you'd never get in their way again. He argued that, as time passed, the culprits would get more and more confident they got away with it and, one day, they'd be exposing themselves… The same supposition that Superintendent Oda did… Both of them turned out to be right. There was more to the tale that met the eye…" Kuroshiro sighed as he turned to his right and looked at Netto as he explained.

"I see. You hadn't told me because it was a hypothesis that lacked any solid evidence... Maybe if you'd told me back on the day I'd done something reckless like yell for the culprits to come out… Which would alert them that we suspected their involvement…"

"Correct. Sorry for not telling you, but as you just deduced… It worked, in the end. It's taken 5 years but it proved to be a bright idea. While I thought that, the culprit could be a crony of Wily or Regal… It turned out to be Regal himself. Talk about a surprise."

"Yeah. True. The guy's arrogance caused his downfall. By the way, that stupid Boba Feet collage thing…"

"Oh yeah. That was Judge Man's idea of a pawn to make us believe there was a mysterious third party involved. Looks like he collaged a lot of Kansai memes into the thing." Kuroshiro rolled his eyes.

"Huff. That was LAME." Netto sighed.

"You needn't tell me. As if all the spam email I get about guys from Kansai trying to get me to fall for "exclusive offers" for "eat and drink all you want buffets" in Nara weren't enough…"

"Five years, huh… Man. I can hardly remember how it felt like before I met you and Golden Star. You gave me a motivation in life when I'd lost all because of Regal's plot… I can never thank you enough."

"You being with me is enough of thanks for me, Netto-kun. As you know, a part of me feels attracted to you, feels obliged to protect you. But that's a natural thing." Kuroshiro smiled.

"Yeah. Curious how Oscar doesn't feel anything like that. Guess Regal's program totally removed any possible attachment he could've ever felt for me… Oh well. But he's now a billion times better than what he was in the past so I don't complain." Netto muttered aloud.

"Sure."

The door buzzed and Kuroshiro stepped off the bed (he was wearing black boxers and black socks) and walked over to it to turn on the interphone: Atarasei's face appeared.

"Good morning, Oscar-kun. I'm opening the door. I've almost finished setting the game console so we can begin at once."

"Roger, Boss."

Atarasei slightly opened the door while checking around to make sure no one was looking and quickly closed it; he chuckled as he saw how things were like.

"Getting in the mood?" He laughed.

"You could say so." Netto laughed as he also stepped off the bed.

He was wearing blue boxers and socks himself.

"Say. Why don't we start with the boxers on and then see who gets it hard first?" He suggested.

"Sure. Why not. Sounds fun." Kuroshiro giggled.

"By the way, Oscar… Does Alex know anything of this?"

"I think he more or less gets the idea by reading between lines even though I never said anything explicit… He's simply not interested so he prefers working out in the gym." He admitted.

"I see. Well. Everyone has their own personality so…"

"Yeah. Of course. I don't intend to force him to do anything he doesn't want to do."

Atarasei undressed and left his clothes folded atop a chair; he wore purple boxers and socks.

"Heh! Black, blue and purple. Talk about a fun mix." Netto grinned.

"Sure, Hikari Junior." Atarasei chuckled back.

"By the way, did Burner Man finish "improving" Napalm Man? I guess Slur's deadly gaze was more than enough to get him to work on that all night long, no?" Netto chuckled.

"Oh sure. When Slur-sama gives you one of those glares, you know you gotta produce satisfactory results at once. Else you get scolded as well and punished." Kuroshiro sighed.

"Sure thing. I guess Napalm Man will learn not to start a fight over something trivial, too."

"By the way… In the end… What became of the "Jet Black Phoenix" Navis apart from airhead Dully-chan?" Atarasei asked.

"XY reformed them into standard, custom Navis and gave them to Operators across the world that he chose. Redesigned their personalities to make them calmer and less prone to getting arrogant or wanting a battle either." Netto explained.

"Oh yeah. Now I remember that you'd told me that. Also… What about dumbass Laika?"

"From what I've heard, his CO told him to keep his trap shut or he'd be responsible for the safety of several persons. The guy doesn't want to become the target of the wraith of others that could get hurt so he stays quiet… Now that's a powerful CO indeed." Netto shrugged.

"Fortunately enough. There's a contingency too. If the guy shows any symptoms of being about to spill the beans, XY said he'll perform some kind of hypnotic suggestion to make him forget that "secret" and thus get rid of the risk." Kuroshiro added.

"Good, good. I guess that Colonel is finally behaving?"

"Of course. Resetting the guy to factory defaults and removing several pointless emotions programs helped. Barrel has also ordered to keep the issue with Iris a secret and make it look like it'd been the work of some nameless weaklings."

"Phew. At last we got rid of the guy's stupid persistence in wanting to beat Slur up even though it was impossible."

"Oh sure! It was about time too." Netto sighed.

"Speaking of persistence… Blues is still being so stubborn when it comes to Legato… He still feels envious of Legato taking credit for anything or crossing his path, too…" Kuroshiro sighed.

"I'm sure Enzan must've tried to order Blues to behave but when it comes to this topic he's so stubborn that he actually ignores him."

"Yeah. No wonder. Ijuuin tells me from time to time, too."

"Oh yeah. You sometimes go play with Enzan, no?"

"Sure. Whenever I want a change of airs…"

"I've got some puns. Crumble and mumble and grumble and rumble and humble and tumble!" Netto suddenly joked.

"Heh! Not bad."

"Where did you get those from?" Kuroshiro asked, surprised.

"Nowhere. I improved it along the way. I often do so when I want to distract myself with something simple."

"Alright! Now's my turn! Hammering hammer of hammers of hammering the hammer!" Atarasei made a tongue twister attempt as well and laughed ad it.

"Maybe you could post those in Twitter?" Kuroshiro joked.

"Sure. Why not. I guess I can get a few "likes"."

"Hey, I've got an idea. If some wannabes come bother us we can unleash the Hulk at them and see them run away."

"That'd be fun to see yeah." Netto grinned.

"Or maybe Thor chasing them to use them as target practice for his hammer of thunder…" Kuroshiro joked next.

"Or Exodia from _Yu-Gi-Oh_ to set the fear in their bodies, thinking we're wizards or something like that."

"That could work too. I'm sure Zero would be amused to come up with new ways to drive wannabes away."

"Or bring Wario to tackle them and run them over with the bike. The infinite possibilities!" Atarasei chuckled.

"You know what? I think we could play in the shower room."

"Sure. It feels more natural! Let's go!"

_Heh! Wait, Oscar and Oriol! Today I'm gonna be super active! Heh, heh!_

08:38 AM (Bangkok Time)

"… At least some peace and quiet!"

"Sure, Geo… I was fed up with all those… fools! They took time away from the lessons… They needed a hit to the head!"

"Truly, Iris… Now we can finally concentrate."

"To think we were chasing a decoy all along… What shame!"

"We can live with that, Guts Style."

"It is like Shield Style says."

"I agree with you, Brother Style."

"But I, Custom Style, nevertheless agree that it feels like we devoted a lot of energy in vain…"

"It was necessary to lure the real one out of hiding."

Iris and Geo were walking across the main entrance of the space-city and they spotted the Four Warriors arguing about the point of chasing Judge Man's decoys while Refraction calmly argued it was necessary.

"If you say so, Lord Refraction…" Guts Style began.

"I apologize for being persistent, but I am also a subordinate of Lord XY and Lord Helios. I am in the same rank as you." Refraction calmly pointed out.

"I apologize."

"No need to. Yes, I think that it was necessary to make the culprit believe we were fooled by him… To make him gain confidence and spur him into exposing himself…"

"When you expose it like that… It does not feel so pointless anymore. I am afraid I was complaining too much."

"I do not mind. Lord XY said it is better to be honest to each other."

"True."

"Exactly. You did a good job, my warriors."

"Ah! Lords!"

Helios and XY walked over to them so they saluted along with Refraction; Helios made a dismissive gesture and they stopped saluting; he looked in a good mood.

"I have very good news."

"Is that so? Father?" Geo asked.

"Yes. Those messages carved in the walls that Iris found… We kept on analyzing them and… We found what you could say is nothing short of a treasure…"

"A treasure?" Iris looked slightly interested.

"Yes. I have several times mentioned my… colleagues… who agreed with me that we should be on the lookout for Duo and stop it from destroying this planet as well… Yet the Elder Council, which had become puppets of that stupid program, silenced them… What we found is that… It turns out they did digitize their mind and memories similar to what I did, and stored them in a secure, hidden server within the city…" Helios narrated.

"But then, does that mean that…?" Refraction began asking.

"Correct. We were able to "awake" them and talk to them; they are recreations, yes, but it is as if we were talking to them in the same shape we had talked in the past… We are now working on slowly summarizing what has happened since then and to make them Net Navi bodies to be able to interact physically with us as well." XY confirmed.

"Impressive!" Everyone else gasped, impressed.

"So this city will soon become very lively. I know it is only six of them but we will be able to engage in a lot more fields of research."

"Only six? I thought there were a lot more." Iris muttered.

"Sadly enough, over 95% of the whole population had already been "influenced" by that program and they barely escaped it…"

"So you mean that you used to have a lot more "colleagues" but they were "turned" by that program thing…" Iris deduced.

"Yes. Sadly enough. However, I cannot complain. XY and I have spent all these millennia alone on our own… Wandering across the world, studying the evolution of societies, technology and morals… However, we knew it had to be done; that we had to endure it to understand them better, and learn what mistakes we had done… I did apologize to them for taking so long to find them but they did not care; they were "asleep" anyway so it made no difference to them. They did assume it could take centuries for me to dare to come back as well so…" Helios went on.

"Of course, all actual field orders and so will still be given by Master and I; they will be… Very Important Persons. So treat them with respect but they will not ask of you to kneel before them either. Like Master and I, they are scientist too. They seek to understand the world around us." XY explained to them.

"Understood." The warriors and Refraction bowed.

"As for Iris and Geo… I am sure they will love to have prolonged talks with you about many topics so… If you want to, you can come and talk to them anytime too. It will still take some days to get them "briefed" to a basic enough level for them to understand the environment but once they do… They will be eager to talk to all of you." Helios told them.

"I would like to do so, too. As you know, Father, I have a thirst for advanced knowledge. I am sure they will tell me things that the home world databases do not have in them."

"Oh yes. You can be sure of it." XY smiled.

"How many men and how many women?" Iris asked.

"Half and half."

"Understood. Sorry for the blunt question. I can only discuss some topics with fellow women… Some questions I would like to ask them about some topics… They might be able to help me answer them… Don't worry, it's nothing important. Just… Things I wonder about."

"Alright. If you say so, then I shall no ask no further." XY nodded in understanding.

"I suspect Slur will be eager to ask them a lot of fundamental questions as well, Father." Geo suggested.

"Oh, yes. I do not doubt it." Helios was amused.

"If you shall excuse us, we shall resume talking to them and resuming work on their bodies." XY announced.

"Of course." Iris nodded in agreement.

"How are the physics lessons, Geo?"

"Fascinating. I have begun looking into orbital mechanics as well, since it is a topic I was always interested in. Those around me would shun it, saying, "Leave it to the Network Navigators" but I always disagreed. That was admitting to weakness of mind, to a lack of a will to do the task by yourself…" Geo told him.

"Sheesh. Reminds me too much of my generation. Always giving the Net Navis the hard work of making the formulas and calculations and then take the merits for themselves…" Helios fumed.

"How lazy. Like those students trying to download or copy-paste the answers from the Internet." Iris sighed.

"Truly! I say many times that in terms of behavior, we were not much better than the humans were; there you have a good example. What use is there to advanced technology if you do not intend to understand it or try to think of ways to improve it?" Helios sighed as well.

"Technology alone does not warrant a mature society. Ironically, I think some works of fiction do a good job at showing that."

"Truly. I apologize for the rant. Let us go."

"Yes, Master."

Helios and XY headed away while the warriors also walked elsewhere; Refraction began to look up some data.

"Hmmm. It would seem nothing too relevant has happened. Apart from someone claiming to be King of the Everest…"

"Why do I feel like I know who that is?" Iris rolled her eyes.

"Someone you know?" Geo wondered.

"Not really. Someone I've heard of who has some stupid obsession with being "king upon the mountain"… Anyway. Forget it. It's but signal noise, nothing relevant."

"Alright. If you say so…"

_I bet anything it's Ooyama, Guts Man's Operator… When will the guy stop blurting nonsense and do something useful? Sheesh. Guess he's in for some scolding again. _Iris rolled her eyes as she guessed.

"Ah yes. Lord XY told me that all data about you has been deleted from the two fugitives. And to be double sure, he applied a "hypnosis suggestion" to the man known as "Laika" to make sure he doesn't leak the "vital data" out of "pride" or "arrogance"…" Refraction reported.

"Excellent. The guy had it coming anyway. This way we don't have to fear anything from that front. Is dumbass Colonel behaving too?"

"Yes. It would seem the resetting achieved the desired effect."

"Good, good. Alright. I'm going to the classroom with Geo to resume studying orbital mechanics. If there's anything new, tell me."

"But of course. What about the pirates?"

"Pirates? Ah, yes. It would seem the image of Duo carved fear into them and they wished for a memories reset to forget it. So that means they no longer remember their "raid" into Kyutora or its existence."

"As expected. That is the price for "looting"." Geo shrugged.

"I shall go collect more information. Goodbye."

"Sure. Alright, let's resume the lessons, Geo."

"But of course, Iris. Let us!"

11:12 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Hell's Buster!"

"Slow! My turn! Hrah!"

"Huh! Fast! Hell's Blades! Hah!"

"Kuh! I lowered the guard… But I'm just getting started!"

"Heh! Excellent, _Danna_!"

"Hah!"

"Do not worry. This "training area" in the Science Labs' Cyber World is totally isolated and no-one can spy on us. So you can train at ease, Forte and Burai."

"Excellent! I missed some real training."

"And I wanted a change of airs too."

Forte and Burai were having a mock battle as they trained within a training area in the Science Labs; Serenade stood close by, crossing hiss arms and calmly assessing their training; Forte's first attack had been blocked by the "Mu Rejection" and he barely dodged an upper fist; Burai tried to close in but then Forte attacked back with his blades and actually met the mark; Burai jumped and hit the floor with the sword to shoot a shockwave which Forte dodged by hovering and moving to the left; both looked very animated.

"Flying Knuckles!"

"Earth Breaker!"

Burai shot an array of fist copies at Forte as he jumped into the air and charged energy on his right hand; Burai brought up his sword horizontally and stopped the blast but then Forte formed a Silver Fist in the left hand and hit Burai on the torso, making him recoil while Forte flipped backwards to put distance between them.

"Interesting! Hrah!"

"Huh! Darkness Overload!"

"That won't suffice!"

"Darkness Overload!"

"What? Ugack!"

Burai ran towards Forte while thrusting his sword forward; Forte shot a first attack only to be bounced off by the barrier; Forte focused and shot a second attack using the cooldown time of the barrier, hitting Burai fully and stopping him on his tracks; Forte rushed in and delivered a kick to his jaw with the right foot, propelling him upwards; he jumped and loaded energy on his right fist to hit Burai's chest and making him fall into the ground, face-up; Burai groaned and warped away to put some distance as he recovered.

"No cool down time, huh… As expected." He was amused.

"So?"

"Hmmm… Let's train a bit more."

"OK!"

Both resumed their battling poses and seemed to wait for who'd make the first move; Burai finally moved first by jumping into the air and launching his sword at Forte; his hands glowed and he stopped it with the palms of his hands; Burai pulled a string attached to his wrist to recover the sword as Forte flew towards him while loading energy on his right hand; he hit Burai's sword as he used it as a shield and then let the recoil push him away as he shot a small spheroid of energy with the left hand; it hit the sword and scattered into pieces upon contact; Burai frowned as if wondering what was the aim of that move; he aimed the sword forward but then the scattered pieces attached to the sword; Burai gasped as it suddenly became heavier and he was dragged to the ground along with the sword; he let go of it and warped as he formed a new one.

"Impressive. So you used my own sword against myself…"

"Yeah. Some little trick I improved…"

"Now that is an interesting idea." Serenade rubbed his chin and was amused.

"Sure. Anyway… I think that's enough for a day. I don't want to overwork you either." Burai turned off the sword.

"Alright. We'll be making our way back home as well. I'll turn on the disguise before leaving, of course."

"I will contact Hikari-hakase… Hello? Do you copy?" Serenade opened a radio channel.

"Yes, of course, Serenade. I was watching the whole time. Glad to see you were able to have some satisfactory training." Yuuichirou replied over the radio.

"Thank you for providing this space."

"Oh, it's nothing. I used to keep it for Rock Man to train but since he barely comes over I thought I could lend it to you guys instead of being unused, talk about a waste."

"Ah, yes. Doctor Cossack would like to have a talk with you one of these days, Hikari-hakase." Serenade told him.

"I'd be glad to be able to talk with him. Father spoke very well of him so I'm sure he must be a very good scientist."

"OK, all's ready."

"Good. I will open the VPN. Thank you again, Hikari-hakase. I will be going back with Forte to Doctor Cossack's home."

"Sure. Goodbye."

"Goodbye."

"Bye!"

Serenade and Forte (disguised as a Normal Navi) entered the VPN and left the area while Burai stretched.

"Alright…"

He warped out of the Cyber World and into the real world office where Yuuichirou was sitting on his office chair and calmly operating a console; he turned to the left to look at Solo.

"You guys' "Denpa-Henkan" system never ceases to amaze me. I'm surprised you could develop this on your own."

"Yes, I'm surprised myself."

Yuuichirou looked around and drew a device from his lab coat's right pocket, which he used to scan the room; Solo also helped him check around as well.

"I was using earphones to listen to your conversations within the Cyber World but now I'm checking that there's no wiretaps. I've done often but you can never be sure." He whispered.

"Of course."

"Good. Looks like it's clean. Nevertheless…"

He drew an old flip phone and began to type an SMS; Solo checked his PET to see the incoming message and firstly frowned but then seemed to understand something about it.

"Oh yes. I should really try some diet; I lately feel I'm putting up some useless kilos." He grinned.

"I should tell my wife to not to tease me so much, too." Yuuichirou laughed.

"I apologize for taking up your time. If you shall excuse me, I will be leaving. I have some groceries to buy and so on."

"But of course, Solo-kun. Take care not to overuse that ability either, it might generate ill effects."

"Noted. Thank you, sir."

"It's nothing. Have a good day. Goodbye."

"Goodbye."

Solo walked out of the office and into the corridor; he rode the elevator and exited on the ground floor; he then picked a secondary corridor and opened an emergency exit door to exit into an alley; he closed it and checked around.

_That message was a cypher telling me he's aware of the whole tale with XY and Helios since Helios himself one day came to visit him and apologize for "restraining" Rock Man for so long, thinking it was a very selfish act from his part… Doctor Hikari understood that, and they agreed it was necessary… _

He exited into the main street and merged with the pedestrians already walking up and down, their chatter and the city's sounds; he was calmly looking around to see if anyone trailed him but it didn't seem to be the case so he relaxed.

_The Shadow Nova and Seraphs leftovers lack coordination and info and they'd rather fight each other for the money so it's unlikely for any of them to know about me or bother to track me; Spiral probably kept the info for himself anyway… _

He kept on walking and headed for a nearby subway entrance; he went down the stairs as he readied a program on his PET and used it to pay at the toll gate; he headed in the direction of the platforms and waited with the other passengers for the train; he looked around again to see if there was anything out of place.

_Doesn't seem to, and I don't see any pickpocket wannabes either. Good. Finally, some rest. This last month has been so stressful… While it's true I wished for some action, this time it was a bit too much. Let's get to Akihara, buy the groceries, and head to the hideout. There's some stuff I wanna check…One day I want to have a new match with Kuroban to see how much today's lessons work on the guy… Heh._

He climbed into the train with the other passengers and gripped one of those rings to keep your balance; the train started.

_Well. I hope we don't get any major incidents for a while. Doing things slowly and comfortably is the best, after all! Heh!_


	20. Chapter 20: Conclusions

**Chapter 20: Conclusions**

09:19 AM (Philippines Time), Sunday May the 6th…

"… Put some effort! Or else you won't be ready for a future battle or be able to rival Golden Star's Net Navis! Especially you, the troublesome trio! Gray! Siegfried! Urateido! Put more effort!"

"Huff, huff!"

"Ernst! Don't get distracted! Focus on running! That's an order!"

"Huff, huff! Y-yes, sir!"

"The others! Don't fall too behind either!"

"R-roger, sir!"

"I'm also running along you so don't complain!"

"N-no, sir!"

Kuroban and his men were running along the course he'd built around the island for training; they were all wearing sleeveless shirts and shorts as well as white socks and white sneakers; Kuroban was taking the initiative and rallying the others as well.

_It was about time I made them work out; I've been too lazy as well, so this is also a scolding to myself as well! While battling in "Denpa-Henkan" form is also a form of exercise, it doesn't burn fats or use calories because your body is momentarily digitized…! Father would've reprimanded me a ton of times by now, and he'd be totally right. A warrior must always be in top shape to be able to survive the battlefield! _

"Alright! That's enough!"

"R-r-roger…! Huff, huff…!"

"Huh? Already? I was just getting warmed up."

"Really, Ernst. Are you trying to play "cool"? Hmmm?"

"Huh! W-well, sir…"

Kuroban ordered them to stop and most did, panting as they recovered; Ernst tried to play cool but Kuroban loomed over him, questioning him and looking annoyed so Ernst gulped and his "confidence" crumbled in a mere instant.

"Sheesh. How many times have we gone over this?"

"I-I am sorry, sir. It's just that…"

"Playing "cool" doesn't make you stronger, Ernst. And same applies to the rest of you!" He warned.

They all nervously nodded in understanding.

"Gray! Don't rely on sneak attacks to win, because that makes you look like a weakling who can't properly battle!"

"Y-yeah, I know…" Eisei gulped.

"Siegfried! Don't start trouble!"

"R-roger, sir…!"

"Netsuhonoo! Use the head!"

"R-roger, sir…!"

"Urateido! Watch your tongue when you're here!"

"R-roger, sir…!"

"You can rest. Whoever wants to, you can have a bath in the sea. That's why I told you to put on swimming trunks on. I need to talk with you, Gray, so come with me to the throne room."

"R-roger…"

"Remember, Ernst! Don't start a fight."

"Y-yes, sir. I won't, sir."

"Siegfried and Urateido! Don't say anything uncalled for!"

"R-roger, sir!"

"Follow me, Gray!"

"Y-yeah, I'm coming…!"

Eisei followed Kuroban into the base entrance, they climbed up the stairs into the main corridor and then Kuroban opened one door of a set of two doors to enter the throne room; Eisei closed the door behind him.

"Well? What about the investigation?"

"Huh? Ah. You mean that money Regal had sent to Switzerland. Turns out that was a red herring and the actual money had been sent to that rogue captain guy to spur him so he could bribe some bureaucrats and hide the purpose of taking out the warship…" He reported.

"Thought so. Fine. So we cleared up that thing at least."

"Y-yeah. I also dug up that the guy was the one who spurred Colonel years ago into the whole "use Rock Man as bait" thing… He'd already realized Colonel's idiocy…"

"Hmpf. Doesn't surprise me. Oh well. The bastard will be rotting in that cell for a long, long time. Had it coming…"

"Y-yeah, sure…"

"Nobody asked any odd questions about that program?"

"N-no… Very few got to know that it existed, and the few that did disregarded it as a rumor or urban legend or some rumor made up in 4chan or some other message board…"

"Good. As long as they believe so, that works for us."

"S-sure."

"Has anyone been poking their noses in our stuff?"

"Some Panama gangsters who blew up an abandoned factory believing it to be our base of operations… Well, those were some red herrings you'd set up so they fell for it…"

"Huh? Ah yeah. Good, good. That benefits us too!"

"S-sure…"

"Anything else?"

"No… Nothing that really caught my attention… The typical misinformation and rumors and so but since you told me to ignore those, then…" Eisei nervously replied.

"True, true. Good. By the way! Don't spur Urateido's cousin to become a copy of the man."

"Y-yeah, sure… I know that… Urateido warned his mother too and yeah, she did tell him to not to start doing stuff on his own… So I think he'll listen to her, yeah…"

"Fine. Remember not to provoke Ernst."

"Of course not! We're going back to the mainland after this… We can stay in the old hideout so…" Eisei gulped.

"Alright. And yeah, I'm also reminding Ernst not to start a fight with anyone either. I've got it covered."

"Yeah, I know…"

"Remember! Don't say anything uncalled for!"

"Yeah, I know that!"

"Ah yeah. Remember Siegfried to not to bother Leon. I will know at once if that happens, I gave him a direct line!" He warned.

"Whoa! Y-yeah, I'll tell the guy!" Eisei gasped.

"You better do. Remember not to mention XY too often either. Just keep it to the Net Police Cyber CID or Golden Star!"

"R-roger!"

"You can leave. Go bathe with the others. I'll join you soon."

Eisei nervously nodded in understanding and left the room while Kuroban sighed and shook his head.

"Huff. Anyway…"

He exited the throne room and headed down the corridor into a room; he opened it and picked a towel he'd readied atop a chair; the room was pretty austere with only a bed, a set of drawers, a couple chairs, a desk, and the balcony door.

"Good."

He headed out and downstairs to the beach; everyone else was already bathing and swimming around; they'd left their clothes in a metallic box with a lid; Kuroban also undressed, remaining in black swimming trunks, and calmly stepped into the water to begin swimming; he spotted Eisei, Urateido and Sieg in a group a bit separated from the rest of the group, who were talking about something.

"… That new batter is doing a good job. If it keeps up, they might make it to the quarter finals…" Netsuhonoo was saying.

"But there's a lot of strong opponents on ahead." Umisama warned.

"Yeah. That's why they can't lower the guard." Kisei nodded.

"This season is gonna be unpredictable." Kazebun grinned.

"Well, that's what makes sports exciting, no? Else…" Ernst argued back.

Kuroban calmly swam towards the left to try to listen in to Eisei and the other two who were speaking in a hush.

"… But yeah, rugby matches sure are intense…" Sieg was saying.

"I know, right? It's something different, too, it feels fresh!" Eisei chuckled.

"Sure. This season's gonna be exciting, man." Urateido grinned.

_Alright. No harm in talking about sports. Well! I think we deserve a break from these intense days. I need to improve my skills too… I'm sure Burai will soon knock at my door asking for a match… Heh._

Satisfied, he looked out towards the skies.

_Excellent weather indeed. As always. Heh. Let's enjoy the sea!_

10:21 AM (Japan Time)…

"… I apologize for suddenly summoning all of you over, but I wanted to clear up some recent events which might've been a bit confusing or contradictory…"

"We won't take too long, rest assured."

"It is important for us Golden Star to be coordinated."

"Indeed."

Hades, Kuroshiro (wearing the robe), Slur and Legato were standing facing the other members of Golden Star, all sitting in portable chairs on the deck's bow.

"There was an uproar over a "mysterious program" taking the shape of a character known as "Grahf"… That was established to be a ploy of Dr. Regal to give us headaches in the case he was arrested, he was killed or suicided to escape detention." Hades calmly explained.

"However, its own arrogance was reflected on his creation. The program was unable to admit its limitations." Kuroshiro added.

"It tried to look up to cells and recreate as they did but since it was an incomplete system, it was forced to sacrifice part of its mass to give birth to a new copy." Slur detailed.

"And thus, when it was too low in mass to clone anymore, we cornered it and were able to delete it." Legato finished.

The members nodded in understanding.

"Any questions?" Hades asked.

"Ah… Yes. Excuse me, sir. Then it was not a program accidentally gone berserk? I thought the Net Police had said so, sir." Agoras asked.

"No? The Net Police made no such statement. Did they?" Hades frowned.

"No, sir. I was checking their site and it says nothing." Victor added.

"Then I guess I mistook it for something else. I apologize, sir."

"Oh, no! Don't worry, Agoras-kun. It can happen to anyone."

"Did that thing get to steal any vital data?" Tozukana asked.

"Fortunately, no. Our encryption and anti-hacking measures were too good for that impatient thing to crack." Kuroshiro replied.

"Phew!" Lily sighed in relief.

"So the whole commotion about "Void" having survived was but a ruse by Dr. Regal to divert attention?" Tom asked next.

"Correct."

"Hmpf. So that thing was but a defective, then." Qong muttered.

"Obviously." Ikada shrugged.

"It was half-baked." Sandra shrugged as well.

"More like a random caprice." Atarasei added.

"A pretty expensive one too." Victor smirked.

"And the maker didn't have expectations of it to begin with. Was so paranoid he thought it'd turn into a _Terminator_." Suzuki wasn't too surprised, either.

"Paranoid indeed!" Akemi shrugged.

"Well. Less headaches for everyone else." Zarashe shrugged.

"Sure. If only all opponents were idiots like that piece of junk then we wouldn't have to sweat that much." Beta X sighed.

"Well. Reality is reality. We must adapt to whatever comes at us. Don't you agree?" Kage calmly suggested.

"I think that's the most realistic approach." Andy added.

"I agree." Leon calmly nodded.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever comes, we deal with it." Napalm Man muttered.

"Looks like you finally learnt to be rational." Slur pointed out.

"I will not offer any excuses." He gulped and lowered the head.

"Good."

"I will not, either!" Burner Man gulped and did the same.

"Remember not to overdo it either, Video Man and Needle Man. You do understand, yes?" She glanced at them.

"Y-yes, Slur-sama!"

"Boss? I deal with some fake "patriotic police" morons who were trying to force their way into one warehouse." Zero reported over the radio.

"What is that supposed to be?" She grumbled.

"Guess someone trying to imitate a dictatorship or something that existed before or during World War II… Huff!" Hades sighed.

"Huff! Indeed!" Daikani sighed as well.

"We should design some counter-rumors to drive them away… Guess we need to say it loud and clear that coming after us doesn't result in getting rich quickly…" Zero grumbled.

"Truly." Hades rolled his eyes.

"And why would anyone think that?" Tozukana frowned.

"Because they're stupid enough to think that stealing our codes and reselling them in the black market for a high price will make them rich… They're so stupid they don't realize codes can be invalidated from the second we detect they're stolen. So when the buyer tries to use them, they will believe they've been scammed and go get "payback" on whoever sold it to them…" Lily explained, rolling her eyes.

"Oh yeah. Like how users who violate the terms of service of Facebook or Twitter can be banned or their accounts cancelled… Of course, we wouldn't build such a system without failsafes!" She realized.

"Ah. So that was why." Qong muttered.

"Had we not said so many times?" Slur frowned.

"We all tend to forget things, Mademoiselle. It's not a lack of will to store the information, it's just… How it is. Biology." Hades replied.

"Hum. You have a point."

"By the way… Did that Regal jerk get to figure out some top-secret, vital info about us or...?" Tom asked.

"Thanks to Superintendent Oda and Chief Sorodo being careful, they made sure there were no wiretaps or anything during any meeting. Nevertheless… He has faked authorizations sometimes to access some files and he probably leaked the info to other parties… Especially on the identity of some of you. That's why he was able to hack your PC, Suzuki-san…" Hades admitted.

"Thought as much." She wasn't too surprised.

"Fortunately, it'd seem he was greedy enough to put a self-delete timer on them so that the parties who bought them could only access them for a limited time… However, to access it, they'd have to solve some "riddle"… Which was limited to 10 minutes and five tries. If they failed all tries or ran out of time, the data would delete."

"Really? Talk about greedy indeed. What irony. His own greediness and arrogance actually helped us." Agoras commented.

"Oh yes. How ironic indeed." Hades shrugged.

"And what kind of "riddles" were there?" Zarashe asked.

"Several types. Especially ones involving binary and hexadecimal to make it look like they turn into random numbers but if you looked closer, all numbers were between 1 and 26…" Kuroshiro began.

"So you had to swap those numbers with the corresponding Alphabet letters to form a comprehensible message?" Leon deduced.

"Yes. In most times, they were written in English… And they were, as you can expect, mockery."

"No wonder." Most muttered.

"Indeed. Oh, well. If there are no more questions, then… This meeting is over. I apologize for taking up your time."

"Roger!"

"Ah yes. Please come to my office, Mademoiselle. There is a topic I'd like to consult with you." Hades told Slur.

"But of course."

"I am sorry, Mr. Baron, but could you please wait a few minutes?" He asked Daikani.

"I don't mind. I've got a topic to talk with Oscar-kun, too."

"Ah yes. Miquel-kun, could you come over? There's something I need to report to you as well." Kuroshiro asked.

"Roger, Boss."

Tozukana looked about to say something but Lily directed a scolding glance to her and she gulped, without saying anything; Kage seemed to notice it and rolled his eyes (since he'd taken off the sunglasses) and simply followed Kuroshiro into _Purgatory_.

"I'll be as brief as possible. I know you have some homework pending to finish for next week and so…" He told him.

"Thanks." Kage replied.

They both walked until Kuroshiro's room and got in before sitting in the chairs by the table.

"Alright. Just wanted to, as always, make sure all security systems around you and your friends work as they should." Kuroshiro told him.

"Yeah, I know, Oriol."

"We're on the lookout but we won't be paranoid." Andy added.

"Excellent. Together, we can defeat any foe!" Legato grinned.

They all shook their hands to reaffirm their bond…

13:10 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Well, well! Glad we can all have a fun meeting together to shake off some stress… Don't you think so? By Merton!"

"Yes, yes. The "by Merton" wasn't needed, sir."

"Did you find the explosive stamp, Ijuuin-kun?"

"No, sir. There's no such thing."

"My. And here I could've sworn there was, Obihiro-kun."

"There isn't, sir, please be realistic, sir."

"Tell me, Meijin-kun. Did Miss Musashi come over?"

"Musashi? From the Rocket Gang trio? No, sir!"

"Oh come on."

"Sheesh."

"And I think our other fellows will soon come as well!"

Oda was joking as he sat with Enzan, Obihiro and Meijin in a restaurant table and was joking with them, as always, so they were getting a bit exasperated along with Blues and Punk.

"Hello. I hope we're not too late."

"Well, here they are! The fellows blessed by Uncle Merton!"

"Oh please, Superintendent. That joke's getting old, sir."

Netto, Saito, Raito and the rest of the Akihara High members had come only to be greeted with a "classic" greeting by Oda and both twins rolled their eyes, too used to it.

"Oda-san, please tell me the Ultra Invincible Program Advance!" Dekao suddenly asked.

"Oh come on. Ooyama-kun. There's no such thing." Meijin sighed.

"Huh? Really? But the Science Labs newsletter said that…"

"Guts, guts. That wasn't a Science Labs newsletter but a tweet by user "PAMaster1234", de guts." Guts Man corrected.

"E~H?" He turned white from the shock.

"I knew it." Meiru sighed.

"Predictable indeed." Roll sighed too.

"Heck!"

"Heh! Then I'll patent it! As the "Strawberry Milk Cannon" Program Advance! Gabcom's latest release!" Yaito laughed.

"Yaito-sama, the President will get annoyed again, ma'am." Glyde sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Yikes!" She gasped.

"Predictable." Hikawa sighed.

"Truly, desu." Ice Man also sighed.

"And how useful would that be?" Raito wondered.

"None at all." Obihiro guessed.

"Miss… I think you should focus on practical aspects rather than be one of those designers who only think on the outward appearance of a product rather than its functionality…" Oda sighed.

"Y-yes, sir… I was joking, sir…" She broke into cold sweat.

"It's but advice. I'm not scolding you, Miss…"

"I-I know, sir… I will be careful, sir…"

"Now. Relax. We're here to celebrate that we made it through this crisis safe and sound." He got cherry again.

"Oh yes, that's true, sir." She regained her composure.

"Phew." Glyde sighed in relief.

"Also, Ijuuin-kun… Don't start a discussion either, will you?"

"Yes, sir. I apologize, sir. It's a bad habit, sir." Enzan apologized.

"As long as you admit that then that's a step forward in getting rid of the bad habit, yes… Don't you agree? Blues."

"… Yes, sir. Although… I am sorry, but… It's hard, sir." Blues answered with some reluctance.

"Well. All in due time, but don't neglect the issue."

"Yes, sir. As ordered, sir."

"Good. Now shake off the tension and let's sit down."

Everyone sat down around the table and began to place their orders; chatter soon began to form by groups.

"Excuse me…" A voice called out from Saito's PET.

"Hmm? Ah. Refraction. XY sent you to check on things?" Saito replied as he looked at it.

"Yes. The regular report." Refraction confirmed.

"Nothing unusual. We're meeting with Superintendent Oda and the others to shake off the tension of the last days."

"Affirmative. I shall go report, then. I apologize for the intrusion."

"It's nothing. It's your mission, after all."

"Indeed. Goodbye and…"

"Wait a min, ya! I know something!" Dekao suddenly exclaimed.

"Excuse me?"

"You're the leader of U2, right?" He suddenly grinned.

"Excuse me? U2? And what would that be?" Refraction asked while frowning.

"Oh come on!" Everyone else sighed.

"Huh? No? Looked so fashionable, thought that…"

"Guts, guts. Dekao, U2 is an Ameroupe music band."

"Huh? Wasn't that Miquel's buddies?"

"Guts, guts. No, guts. That's "Golden Star", de guts."

"Ah. If you mean to say that I look like Lady Slur… I am a subordinate of Her Grace's sibling, Lord XY, and he made me to be similar. Now, if you shall excuse me, I shall be leaving… Goodbye."

"Crap! I mixed them up again!" Dekao gasped.

"Incomprehensible." Blues drily muttered.

"You're not the only one." Enzan sighed.

"My, Ooyama-kun… I don't see any similarities between the names so I wonder how you could mix them up…" Oda was baffled, too.

"Huh! W-well, that's… I had the impression Miquel's buddies had a more fashionable name or so…" He gulped.

"Sigh. Not like "Golden Star" is that hard to remember." Netto rolled his eyes.

"Yeah. Please pay a bit more attention." Saito sighed.

"Sorry, sorry!"

"Anyway. Let's resume… Where were at?"

"About that trip to Hokkaido when some scammer wannabe tried to sell you fake tickets for a "special event"…" Enzan sighed.

"Oh yes. Well then, I stared at that fellow with a bit of skepticism and he began to shake in fear. "My fellow… Do you know you who you're trying to scam? Hmmm? Uncle Merton's favorite nephew, you know?"… And he ran out, only to bump into Meijin who was coming over…"

"Yes, I remember. He tried to attack me with a karate wannabe move but I used my judo as self-defense… We brought the guy to the nearest police box and that was it…I don't see why you're so fond of that episode, it felt so stupid in my opinion…" Meijin sighed.

"You never know, you never know." He chuckled.

"We do, sir. I appreciate trying to improve the mood but maybe… I don't know, try some common topic instead?" Obihiro sighed.

"My bad. Well. What are your predictions for the baseball season? Do you think that new batter young man will do a good job?"

"Hmmm… Hard to guess! Maybe so?" Meijin got animated.

"But they mustn't forget a good teamwork either!"

"So, Hikari & co.? High school must be hard, no?"

"Yeah. Because we must also begin to set down the general direction of where we want to head to afterwards… But we've already drawn a rough idea so…" Netto replied.

"We'll be adding the details steadily." Saito added.

"Same here." Meiru and Hikawa nodded.

"I've just begun middle school so I still don't need to worry about it."

"Huh! I-I've also drawn an idea too…" Dekao nervously added.

"I know what I'll do… And I need to study harder…" Yaito admitted.

"Good. As long as you have a general idea and work on it, I'm sure you can make it a reality." Enzan encouraged.

"Indeed. It might not be easy but it's not impossible." Oda added.

"Oh yes. If we help each other, then…" Meijin smiled at them.

"We can do it!" Obihiro also added.

"So let's do a toast! To do our best and strive forward!"

"To our best and strive forward!"

They all stood up and lifted their glasses to toast as they laughed together; they were all sure they would do their best and strive forward.

**THE END**


End file.
